Two-thirds of children do not meet the National Standard for Swimming Safety

Income is an important predictive factor in this regard. Just over a quarter of children whose parents have a low income obtain certificate C. For middle incomes, this is one-third, and for high incomes, almost half.

This is shown by research conducted by the Mulier Institute in collaboration with the Netherlands Institute for Social Research (SCP). The results of the 2018 Leisure Time Omnibus have been included in the Swimming Skills 2018 factsheet and compared with previous studies.

Other important findings:

• 4 percent of children over the age of 11 do not have a swimming certificate.
• 2 percent of children are still taking swimming lessons after their eleventh birthday.
• At the end of primary school, the same number of children had one or more swimming certificates in 2018 as in 2012. However, many children obtain certificates at a younger age.
• 13 percent of children obtain certificate A through school swimming lessons.

Click here for the Swimming Skills 2018 factsheet.

This research was conducted as part of the NL Zwemveilig project, coordinated by the National Council for Swimming Safety. Click here for more information about NL Zwemveilig.