Swimming Statistics and Findings | Swim England Insight (2024)

FAQs

What percentage of England can swim? ›

According to recent statistics, roughly 1 in 3 adults in the UK cannot swim, meaning around 14.2 million can't swim one length of a 25-metre pool. The numbers for children are similar. Almost 1 in 3 children – around 2 million – leave primary education unable to swim.

Swimming is still hugely popular in the UK. Around 4.7 million people go swimming regularly in the UK. It's considered one of the best ways to stay healthy and lose weight. It's also great for many people who have injuries of some kind.

Sport England's latest Active Lives Children and Young People report shows that 72 per cent of children in Year Seven meet the guidelines to swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25m. This is down four per cent compared to 12 months ago and 6.3 per cent below pre-pandemic levels.

More in depth analysis and research can be found further on in the article. 4 million people in the UK go swimming at least twice a week. There are over 750,000 searches each year in the UK for “Swimming Pool Near Me”.

In the United States, while 80% report they can swim, in reality, only 56% can perform the five basic skills required for safe swimming​. Interestingly, in some countries, swimming is a part of the school curriculum, leading to a higher percentage of swimmers.

Only 14% of UK rivers had a “good” ecological status. Both agricultural runoff and the release of untreated sewage are leading causes of river pollution in the UK. In 2021, untreated sewage was discharged into English waterways for more than 2.5 million hours.

As mentioned earlier, football is the most popular sport in the UK and has been played for hundreds of years. England boasts some of the biggest teams in the world including Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea. The highlight of the year is the FA cup final in May.

Cricket is the national game of England. Despite of this, football (soccer) being the most popular and widely followed sport in United Kingdom. Cricket holds the historical title of England's national sport due to its origins and long-standing tradition within English culture.

All schools must provide swimming lessons in Key Stage 1 or 2. Swimming is the only statutory sport within the Physical Education (PE) programme of study – and in particular, pupils should be taught to: Perform safe self-rescue in different water based situations.

How old do you have to be to swim alone in the UK? ›

Swimming in Public Sessions

All children under the age of 8 years shall be accompanied by a responsible person over the age of 16 years who will be required to supervise the child in the pool at all times.

Swimming didn't emerge as a popular sport or past time until the early 19th century. A National Swimming Society was formed in the UK, with competitions being held towards the end of that century. In the early days of the sport the most popular stroke was what has become to be known as the modern day breaststroke.

Our latest figures show that 4.7 million people swim twice or more a month, making it one of the most popular physical activities in the country. In order to maintain the numbers of people regularly swimming, and to grow its popularity, we ran a series of pilots in 12 locations around the country.

If you do an internet search for the number of houses with pools in the UK, the first number that comes up is a staggering 210,000. The best part of a quarter of a million? Surely not. Further investigation suggests the average size of a domestic pool is roughly 9 metres by 4.5 metres.

Nearly nine in ten British people (88%) say that they can swim, with 61% rating themselves as 'reasonable', 'good' or 'very good' swimmers. Swimming ability declines with age - 70% of 18-24 year olds say they are reasonable swimmers or better, compared to just 44% of people aged 65 or older.

In most cases, it's perfectly legal to enjoy wild swimming. The UK has a wealth of stunning lakes, rivers, and coastlines that are just begging to be explored. So, if you're looking for open water swimming near you, there's a good chance you won't have to travel too far.

While 80 percent of Americans said they could swim, only 56 percent of them can perform all five basic skills needed to swim safely.

The English Channel is the body of water separating England and France, and the 33 km (20.5-mile) swim across it is the world's most historically significant and iconic marathon swim. The standards and traditions of Channel swimming inspired the global sport of unassisted Marathon Swimming.