Scuba Diving Statistics 2022
Scuba Diving is an incredibly popular activity. If you have had the chance to explore the underwater world, you will know how mesmerising the experience can be.
There are thousands of Dive shops located all over the world, with hundreds of Scuba divers a week.
So if Scuba diving is so amazing, how many divers are there? Have you ever thought about how much air Scuba divers go through?
In this article, we will have a look at some of the Scuba diving statistics.
- How many Scuba divers are there?
- Number of dives
- How much air is consumed?
- Age and Gender of divers
- Location
- Environmental Impact
So let’s dive in!
How many Scuba divers are there?
There are considered to be around 6 million active scuba divers worldwide. That is a lot!
Quite often, as a Scuba diver, you will meet someone else in your everyday life who has also experienced diving or even has a few certifications.
It is no surprise that the number is this big! With PADI, SSI and other dive agencies having hundreds of shops all over the world, the number of certified divers is climbing, very fast. For example, PADI alone is located in 186 countries, with more than 137,000 professional members.
Being located in so many countries, it is great that Scuba diving is becoming more accessible for people all over the world!
How many Scuba dives happen every week?
There could be as many as 30 million dives a week, all around the world.
Knowing the rough estimate of global divers, it is possible to take an educated guess on how many dives are taken all over the globe. If the active divers were to dive on average once a day, five days a week, there could be around 30 million dives a week globally.
Of course, some divers will dive much less, and others will dive a lot more than two times a day, five days a week. Some Divers might only dive once at the weekend or only on holiday. But there are also a lot of professional divers, diving two to four times a day, five to six times a week.
This is just an air-stimate!
How much air is consumed Scuba diving?
Around four and a half billion bars of air could be consumed weekly.
Every dive is different, depending on the air consumption, length of the dive and depth. However, it is very common to plan a dive for either a certain amount of time or an amount of air.
At the start of the dive, a full tank of normal air is on average around two hundred bar. Following the safety procedure of planning to end the dive with fifty bar in case of emergency, one hundred and fifty bar has been consumed.
This of course varies hugely, depending on the length, depth and time of your dive. It also depends on what mixture of gas you are using, for example, air (EAN21), EAN32 or EAN36.
Of 6 million active divers, many will be tech divers or Nitrox divers, diving with different mixes of gases for a longer period.
However, for the sake of this estimation, let us assume that all dives were single air tanks. We can estimate how much air is consumed. If one hundred and fifty bar is consumed a dive, and 30 million dives a week, four billion, five hundred million bar is consumed a week.
That is a lot of bubbles!
Age and Gender of Scuba Divers
A survey completed in the US in 2018, showed the mean age of an Open Water-level diver was 29.7.
The same survey discovered that in the US, 60% of the Open water-level divers were Male, and 39% Female.
We have also seen these percentages change a lot over the years, moving from a male-dominated sport to a place where women can adventure and enjoy the ocean.
When continuing education, the average age is 38, with a median of 36. To continue with courses, the individual is more likely to be older, earn more money and be a man.
Although this is changing! Scuba diving is getting more accessible for younger ages, as they are completing their open-water while they are a lot younger. The women Scuba diving community is also becoming more plentiful, increasing the percentage of women participants!
Scuba Dive Location Statistics
There are outstanding Dive locations all over the world. Scuba travel votes Barracuda Point, Sipadan Island, Malaysia as one of the best locations for Scuba diving.
Here, you are surrounded by barracudas, while spotting Sharks cruising past. If you like Scuba diving to spot big fish, a destination like this is extremely popular.
Africa is considered to be the home of 20% of the best Dive sites globally. The Red Sea has beautiful reefs and marine life.
Southern Mozambique has high latitude coral reefs with awesome things to see! South Africa has cold waters inviting great white sharks, incredible lakes and awesome marine parks
Indonesia is also very popular for Scuba diving all year round. With over 13,000 islands surrounded by vibrant marine life and wrecks, there is something for everyone.
The inviting tropical waters of Indonesia are housing around 25% of the world’s fish species and 15% of corals. This makes astonishing coral reefs and National Parks, worthy of a place on your bucket list.
Two of the world’s most famous locations for Scuba diving in the tropics are Raja Ampat and the Komodo Islands. Of course, there are amazing Scuba diving locations all over the world and this is to just name a few.
Environmental Impact of Scuba Diving Statistics
The Scuba diving industry has been considered to have a negative impact on the environment, through damaging coral reefs and pollution.
Unfortunately, some Scuba divers are not careful when diving on Coral reefs, breaking branching species and having a drastically damaging effect on the coral.
Better education and environmental awareness are taught throughout Scuba certifications, in an attempt to prevent further damage caused by Scuba divers themselves.
Scuba diving can impact the environment, but the sport is also impacted by the environmental challenges we face today, such as overfishing, closing some areas.
To overcome this issue and protect marine ecosystems, there are over fourteen and a half thousand marine protected areas across the world, representing nearly eight per cent of the ocean.
However, although the sport might hold a bad reputation of the effects on the environment, Scuba divers have made some very positive impacts.
There are initiatives all over the world helping to create awareness for the ocean, prevent illegal fishing and plant corals.
For example in Australia in 2019, one group alone managed to plant over one thousand pieces of corals onto a nursery, to grow and create a new coral reef.
Another example is the Gili Eco Trust, working on Gili Trawangan. Made up of conservationists, divers and instructors, they manage reef restoration, waste management and Ecotourism
Scuba divers are also well known for their reef clean-ups! Dedicated dives are conducted with net bags, to dive along the reef collecting all the rubbish that is found.
Of course, this does not stop divers from collecting any rubbish found during every dive! It is always good to have a net bag in your pocket!
In 2019, a world record was set by scuba divers, as 633 divers collected rubbish from the seafloor at an international Fishing pier in Florida. Over 700kg of lead fishing weights were retrieved, along with huge amounts of waste.
That is an impressive beach clean up, and it is not the only one!
Don’t Forget Your Dive Insurance!
Before you go out on any dive trip or holiday, it is essential to make sure you have insurance that covers you if something goes wrong. Check out our dive insurance article for more information.
Or go straight to these dive insurance company websites:
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Final Thoughts
Scuba diving is a very popular sport, shown by its popularity and the number of active scuba divers. Its huge number of participants are increasing in numbers every day as it is becoming even more accessible for everyone, all over the world.
Beautiful dive sites can be found globally, with hundreds of thousands of dives taking place at each location. But don’t just believe the statistics. Check out how incredible Scuba diving is for yourself, ensuring you dive carefully and don’t damage the marine environment.
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