185 people die every year in sports accidents
Sport is healthy and keeps you fit. But it also carries risks: Between 2000 and 2023, more than 4,400 people lost their lives doing sport in Switzerland.
Over the past 24 years, an average of 185 people have died in sports-related accidents in Switzerland every year, including 56 foreign guests. 84 of these died while practising mountain sports, followed by snow sports (38) and water sports (31).
The number of fatalities fluctuates over the years. This is mainly due to how many hours certain sports are practiced by the population in a year. The weather plays a particularly important role here, as almost all fatal sports accidents occur outdoors.
The better the weather, the more people do outdoor sports - and the more accidents happen. A high number of fatalities in a sport therefore does not necessarily mean that it is particularly dangerous.
In all sports except equestrian sports, significantly more men (82 %) have fatal accidents than women. This can be explained not only by the increased exposure in certain sports, but also by men's greater willingness to take risks.
The proportion of foreign guests among those killed varies depending on the type of sport. The reason for this is that some sports have a larger proportion of foreign guests (e.g. mountain sports) than others (e.g. water sports). However, without considering the number of active athletes and exposure times, the absolute number of fatalities says nothing about the risk of death.
Source: bfu.ch
