How many divers are there?

[Scuba_Jenny]

Nope. Sorry. No can do at this time...
But, I appreciate you asking.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

So much for the stereotype that HAMS, (amateur radio enthusiasts) are a bunch of grumpy old men

Hey, I resemble that stereotype (KB1MGB).

 

[aquaregia]

So much for the stereotype that HAMS, (amateur radio enthusiasts) are a bunch of grumpy old men

I met another ham once and he was like "wait, you can't be a ham", entirely because I'm in my mid-20s and don't have a beard.
73,
KJ6AQR

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Could we all please try to stay on topic?
thanks!

 

[AZFlyingDiver]

If it's 1.2 million active divers within a U.S. population of around 310 million, the portion of active divers would actually be 0.4%

I've heard estimates around 5% of U.S. population are certified divers (need to find where I saw that). PADI reported 14.7 million certified divers in 2005 and 16.6 million projected for 2010 so it probably comes from that. Of course, these divers are "certified" and not necessarily "active".

Regardless, we're an exclusive bunch

 

[AZFlyingDiver]

Also reported in 2007:

The US has roughly twice as many certified divers as Europe. Only around one
third of certified divers can be described as “active” divers – that is, they would be
interested in diving as a holiday or leisure pursuit. There are approximately 4.2
million active divers in the US, and 2.2 million in Europe (with Italy being the most
significant market, followed by Germany, France and the UK). The rest of the world
(largely Australia, New Zealand and South Africa) account for the remaining 0.9
million.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Thanks!!! Much appreciated!

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

While it is an interesting question (and there will be fewer divers off the Gulf Coast of the US in the months ahead), I have to ask "Who cares?"

I am not being flip here, but really, is there a reason to know how many of us there are and "classify us?" It is like the old NAUI/PADI debate. Once you have your card, you are a diver. I admit that I haven't dove as much as I would like since the birth of my daughter and probably could use a refresher, but I consider myself a diver and I am interested in those things that are related to diving. I am not as focused on it as perhaps I am the issues that affect Amateur Radio or my job, but there you go.

Welcome to ScubaBoard

I see this is your first post... Here's to many more

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

Jenny, in my opinion...

The only way to get accurate numbers (in the US anyway) would be to add questions about scuba diving to the census.

You notice the government can't just go by a qualified guess at how many people are in the US. They end up going door to door.

I believe the same would have to happen in order to get truly accurate numbers about scuba diving. Any other numbers from a qualified (by whatever pretenses they might attempt to qualify, any novice could easily punch a hole in their logic for sure) guess is just a guess and has very little basis in accuracy.

 

[aquaregia]

I'm not sure I agree with CoolTech. Market research firms have a number of techniques that they've used to answer significantly more troublesome problems. I'm pretty sure the information is out there, but it's likely to be quite expensive. My previous employer had extremely extensive data on exactly how people were using our products and what demographics we were hitting; I think we were paying five digits for each report.