67% of Black Women in England Cannot Swim 25 Metres, Raising Drowning Risk
Updated
Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 31
67% of Black Women in England Cannot Swim 25 Metres, Raising Drowning Risk
1 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 31
Summary
67% of black women and 44% of black men in England cannot swim 25 metres unaided, versus 17% and 12% for white people, according to Swim England figures cited in the report.
2023 research by Portsmouth University, the RNLI and the Black Swimming Association challenged a long-running myth by finding bone density did not predict floating; 89 of 101 participants floated unassisted for two minutes.
Class and access deepen the gap: 47% of children in the most deprived areas can swim 25 metres versus 69% in the least deprived, while more than 500 public pools have closed across the UK since 2010.
Cultural and family factors also matter, with non-swimming parents often passing on fear of water, and 33% of black British respondents in a 2023 BSA survey citing hair-related barriers.
The safety stakes are high: black children were more than three times as likely to drown as white children in England from 2019 to 2025, the National Child Mortality Database found.