Table 1

Characteristics of fatal drowning in California, 2005–2019

	Unintentional		Intentional		Undetermined		All intents
	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
Total	7624	100	1152	100	461	100	9237	100
Coding of drowning cause of death
Underlying	6550	85.9	899	78	416	90.2	7865	85.1
Contributing	1074	14.1	253	22	45	9.8	1372	14.9
Age group
0–4	856	11.2	48	4.2	26	5.6	930	10.1
5–14	320	4.2	12	1	12	2.6	344	3.7
15–24	980	12.9	173	15	49	10.6	1202	13
25–34	1020	13.4	197	17.1	69	15	1286	13.9
35–44	872	11.4	190	16.5	76	16.5	1138	12.3
45–54	1102	14.5	200	17.4	97	21.0	1399	15.1
55–64	967	12.7	170	14.8	62	13.4	1199	13
65–74	673	8.8	74	6.4	31	6.7	778	8.4
75–84	514	6.7	52	4.5	24	5.2	590	6.4
85+	291	3.8	*		*		336	3.6
Unknown	29	0.4	†		†		35	0.4
Sex
Female	1917	25.1	433	37.6	121	26.2	2471	26.8
Male	5707	74.9	719	62.4	340	73.8	6766	73.2
Race
White, non-Hispanic	3867	50.7	679	58.9	229	49.7	4775	51.7
Hispanic	2042	26.8	166	14.4	102	22.1	2310	25
Asian, non-Hispanic	830	10.9	176	15.3	59	12.8	1065	11.5
Black, non-Hispanic	561	7.4	75	6.5	44	9.5	680	7.4
Two or more races	189	2.5	33	2.9	20	4.3	242	2.6
AI/AN, non-Hispanic	72	0.9	†		†		77	0.8
Hawaiian/PI, non-Hispanic	24	0.3	†		†		31	0.3
Other, non-Hispanic	25	0.3	*		†		39	0.4
Non stated or unknown	14	0.2	†		†		18	0.2
Body of water
Pool	2326	30.5	146	12.7	49	10.6	2521	27.3
River/canal	1839	24.1	113	9.8	117	25.4	2069	22.4
Coastal	1193	15.6	587	51	83	18	1863	20.2
Bathtub	843	11.1	119	10.3	56	12.1	1018	11
Lake/pond	851	11.2	60	5.2	30	6.5	941	10.2
Other	*		*		†		223	2.4
Unknown natural water	*		†		†		28	0.3
Unknown	351	4.6	104	9	119	25.8	574	6.2
Drowning event region
North Coast	485	6.4	37	3.2	15	3.3	537	5.8
Superior California	955	12.5	72	6.3	78	16.9	1105	12
San Francisco Bay Area	785	10.3	432	37.5	111	24.1	1328	14.4
Central Coast	535	7	87	7.6	23	5	645	7
N.San Joaquin Valley	755	9.9	39	3.4	15	3.3	809	8.8
S.San Joaquin Valley	693	9.1	*		*		742	8
Los Angeles	1020	13.4	115	10	39	8.5	1174	12.7
Orange	501	6.6	69	6	23	5	593	6.4
Inland Empire	786	10.3	*		†		841	9.1
San Diego-Imperial	690	9.1	148	12.8	12	2.6	850	9.2
Unknown	419	5.5	68	5.9	126	27.3	613	6.6

*Values >11 not visible to protect the confidentially of individuals summarised in the data.
†Values <11 not visible to protect the confidentially of individuals summarised in the data.
AI, American Indian; AN, Alaskan Native; PI, Pacific Islander.