Do you think too many Koreans do not know how to swim?

[dhkim030203]

I'm Korean myself and pool infrastructure here wasn't good until at least the late 90s. Therefore many people especially those inland don't swim.

I'd suspect the percentage of those who know how to swim in Korea would be significantly lower than in developed western countries, and probably similar to that of lesser developed countries in the Middle East and perhaps South America.

 

[Jcp2]

I'm Korean myself and pool infrastructure here wasn't good until at least the late 90s. Therefore many people especially those inland don't swim.

I'd suspect the percentage of those who know how to swim in Korea would be significantly lower than in developed western countries, and probably similar to that of lesser developed countries in the Middle East and perhaps South America.

You’d be surprised at the number of Americans who don’t know how to swim.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

In the US there is a population that doesn't know how to swim that is disproportionate to the overall population. Even among themselves there is not just an acceptance of they don't know how to swim, but they in fact can't swim. This is totally due to the inherent bigotry and racism that the country was founded on and continues to this day.
It is purely a matter of oppression/segregation from the earliest days when facilities were denied to them and that continues in some parts of the country to this day.
It has been proven over and over that they can learn to swim when give the opportunity. But, there are still SCUBA instructors who don't believe the people can swim.
I have seen that same prejudice towards Asians right here on this board in comments by instructors that teach in Okinawa, Guam, Japan, China, and Korea.
It's complete BS. Watch any Olympic Games. But the crap still gets vomited out of the mouths of these ignorant bigots.

 

[lowwall]

 

[Jcp2]

The North American statistic is likely incorrect. There is a difference between reporting that you know how to swim versus actually knowing how to swim without endangering your own life.

Red Cross Launches Campaign to Cut Drowning in Half in 50 Cities

www.redcross.org

 

[lowwall]

The North American statistic is likely incorrect. There is a difference between reporting that you know how to swim versus actually knowing how to swim without endangering your own life.

The numbers in the chart are based on a global survey, so while the absolute numbers are likely inaccurate, it's probably a good indicator of relative abilities across regions.

FWIW, the reason for the disparity is obvious. The American Red Cross definition of someone with "basic swim safety skills" is more rigorous than most people would consider the minimum to consider themselves a swimmer:

step or jump into the water over your head; return to the surface and float or tread water for one minute; turn around in a full circle and find an exit; swim 25 yards to the exit; and exit from the water. If in a pool, you must be able to exit without using the ladder.

 

[Jcp2]

The numbers in the chart are based on a global survey, so while the absolute numbers are likely inaccurate, it's probably a good indicator of relative abilities across regions.

FWIW, the reason for the disparity is obvious. The American Red Cross definition of someone with "basic swim safety skills" is more rigorous than most people would consider the minimum to consider themselves a swimmer:

step or jump into the water over your head; return to the surface and float or tread water for one minute; turn around in a full circle and find an exit; swim 25 yards to the exit; and exit from the water. If in a pool, you must be able to exit without using the ladder.

OP was asking in context of teaching people how to dive. Surveys also reflect the population surveyed. Some populations are fairly bombastic while others fairly humble.

 

[dhkim030203]

Hmm, the statistics don't make sense to me.

'East Asia' yeah, which countries are classified as such? Any poll involving either China or India is going to have massively skewed results due to the sheer size of replies from said countries.

Also I checked the 2019 Lloyd's register foundation world risk poll, and nothing was mentioned in regards to swimming ability. I wonder where they got the data from.

 

[lowwall]

Question 11 on the 2019 survey was "Are you able to swim without any assistance at all?"

I assume the raw data is buried in the zipped 68MB Excel file linked from the bottom of this page:

Data & resources - The Lloyd's Register Foundation World Risk Poll

In this section you can find the full World Risk Poll report and a wide range of charts and tables summarising the results of the 2019 World Risk Poll.

wrp.lrfoundation.org.uk

 

[dhkim030203]

Question 11 on the 2019 survey was "Are you able to swim without any assistance at all?"

I assume the raw data is buried in the zipped 68MB Excel file linked from the bottom of this page:

Data & resources - The Lloyd's Register Foundation World Risk Poll

In this section you can find the full World Risk Poll report and a wide range of charts and tables summarising the results of the 2019 World Risk Poll.

wrp.lrfoundation.org.uk

Oof, yeah, I'm not gonna go through all that.

Still, it does seem weird that only 17% of East Asian women can swim unassisted. Maybe this is because of Chinese replies (in which case, definitely possible due to the lack of infrastructure in rural areas) but in Korea and Japan pools aren't exactly rare and in the latter's case, basic breaststroke and front crawl are included in elementary school PE curriculum.