According to most estimates, there are approximately 1.2 million scuba divers world wide.

66% Male

34% Female

Average age is 29

PADI, the world’s largest scuba certification agency, has barely grown over the last 6 years. In 2007 they had 133,562 members and in 2012 they had 135,710 members, less than a 2% increase.

Between 1997 and 2004, the Divers Alert Network reported an annual fatality rate between 11 and 18 deaths per 100,000 members per year.


Sources:

undercurrent.org/UCnow/dive_magazine/2007/HowManyDivers200705.html
wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_recreational_scuba_divers_in_the_world
padi.com/scuba/uploadedFiles/Scuba_Do_not_use_thi...0WW%20Statistics.pdf
diversalertnetwork.org/default.aspx?a=news&id=904

Comments

Greg - 7/08/2013 3:48 PM You may also be interested in this article about the web usage statistics of DiveBuddy.com: http://www.divebuddy.com/blog/11258/web-usage-statistics-scu...divers-divebuddycom/

Flipper78754 - 6/15/2013 4:51 PM this is very interesting, I am NAUI which I remember when PADI and how fast they grew (I am showing a bit of my age now).

LatitudeAdjustment - 6/08/2013 6:03 AM How many "members" PADI has isn’t a good measure of how many divers there are, the only time I was a member was so I could go on one of thier trips one of my buddies wanted to go on.

Airworks - 6/06/2013 10:32 PM Wonder what the other stat boxes in the drawing represent? The lack of growth probably has to do with the perpetual fear of the underwater world, particularly the ocean, that many people have. Of the 15 people that work in my office area, 11 of them indicate they prefer staying on the beach; just to dangerous in the water. It’s also not cheap to dive consistently.

Eric_R - 6/06/2013 5:47 PM I think were doing pretty good. http://www.cpsc.gov//Global/Neiss_prod/2011Neissdatahighlights.pdf Greg - 6/06/2013 6:01 PM Those stats make me want to get rid of our trampoline. Eric_R - 6/06/2013 7:21 PM My sister-in-law works for an orthopedic Dr. and that’s the number one business generator for them.

Roadking1 - 6/06/2013 3:46 PM really good to see that average age. last place we went I would have supposed twice that much. must have been the venue. lack of growth is interesting too, may be generational forces influencing that trend. i’m impressed at the death / 100K members, makes you wonder. lets be safe out there.