Higher risk of drowning among children born outside the Netherlands

• The risk of drowning is over 14 times higher among children aged under 10 born outside Europe than among children of Dutch origin. 
• Among people who drowned in the past ten years and did not live in the Netherlands, just over a quarter were from Poland.
• 90 percent of non-residents who drowned were men, and half were aged between 20 and 40.

In 2025 there were 100 cases of drowning in the Netherlands that involved residents of the Netherlands. 37 percent of those cases involved people of non-Dutch origin - migrants or second-generation migrants (one or both parents were born abroad). An additional 32 cases of drowning involved people not resident in the Netherlands. In 2024, 113 people resident in the Netherlands drowned, 27 percent of whom were of non-Dutch origin, in addition to 39 non-residents who drowned. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports this on the basis of provisional cause-of-death figures.

Over the past ten years, an average of 93 people resident in the Netherlands have drowned in the Netherlands every year - mainly men. The average split between people of Dutch origin and people not of Dutch origin has been 62 to 31. In addition, an average of 30 more cases of drowning per year have involved people not resident in the Netherlands. This includes tourists, temporary workers and other people with no residence permit, for example.

Relatively high number of cases of drowning among children not born in the Netherlands

930 residents of the Netherlands drowned in the Netherlands between 2016 and 2025. This total includes 57 children under the age of 10, and 53 young people aged between 10 and 20. Of these, more than half were not of Dutch origin: they were either born abroad themselves (migrants), or one or both of their parents were born abroad (second-generation migrants).

When it comes to the risk of drowning, there appears to be a large difference between people of Dutch origin and people of other origins, particularly among children and teenagers. Among children under 10 born outside Europe, the risk of drowning was eight times higher than among children of Dutch origin. Among those aged between 10 and 20, the risk was fourteen times higher.

Among children under 10 who were born in the Netherlands but whose parents were born outside Europe, the risk of drowning is four times higher than among children of Dutch origin.

Just over a quarter of non-residents who drowned were from Poland

Between 2016 and 2025, 296 people drowned who were not resident in the Netherlands. Among those who drowned in the past ten years and were not resident in the Netherlands, 90 percent were men, and just over a quarter were from Poland.

They included seven children under the age of 10, and 26 young people aged between 10 and 20. Almost half of all those who drowned in the Netherlands and were not resident in the Netherlands were aged between 20 and 40.

Drownings in open water mainly involved non-residents

Over the past decade, 78 percent of cases of drowning have taken place in open water: in the sea or in a river, canal, waterway, lake or pond. Among the 300 victims of drowning over the past ten years who were not resident in the Netherlands, 98 percent drowned in open water.

Among migrants who drowned, 40 percent were swimming. Among migrants aged under 20, 60 percent of cases occurred while swimming. In more than a quarter of cases, it is not known how the victim came to be in the water.