The number of people drowning in Australia has fallen to a 12-year-low, but men remain at a high risk of drowning with alcohol playing a factor, a new report has found.
Men made up almost 80 per cent of all drowning deaths last year, the annual report released by the Royal Life Saving Society found.
Justin Scarr, the CEO of the Royal Drowning Society said men are over-represented in drownings statistics "across the board".
"It's almost always men drowning. They're drowning in water craft activities, they're drowning in inland waterways, in rivers.. Alcohol is often a significant factor," he said.
"If more people avoided alcohol around water, if they earned life saving skills at schools and as adults, we'd save more lives."
Almost one in five drownings were alcohol-related.
Half of the victims who drowned after drinking alcohol recorded a blood alcohol level at least four times the legal limit.
"Alcohol and water just don't mix," the Federal Minister for Health and Sport Peter Dutton warned.
Young people were also at risk, with the deaths in the 15-24 year-old age group rising by more than 40 per cent in 2013-2014.
In the last year, 266 people drowned in Australian waterways, which is 29 fewer people than the previous year.
The report singled out inland waterways as the location with the highest number of drownings, with 39 per cent of all drowning deaths occuring in lakes, dams, creeks, streams and rivers.
For the first time, more people drowned in swimming pools than at the beach.
Mr Dutton said the water safety message was just as important for those living on the coast to those living inland.
"They may not think this message is relevant to them but 105 people last year drowned in inland waterways. And the message is as important in the bush as it is at the beach, " he said.
People aged over 55 years-old are also at risk with over 30 per cent of drownings occuring in that age group.
Swimming pools continue to be the leading location of drownings for children under the age of 5, but there was a positive development in the overall number of deaths in that age group with the number of fatal accidents at its lowest since 1995.
