How many divers are there?

[scubafanatic]

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

...I wonder how many are diving a BP/wing ?

 

[DiveNav]

.......The US has roughly twice as many certified divers as Europe. ....

Since there is no more "Thank You" button ..... THANK YOU !!!

 

[DiveNav]

........... I need verification to the numbers for the research I am doing ......

Hi,
I would be very interested in seeying the results of your research

Our market analysis shows a WW DIVING population of ~12M in 2004 growing to ~17M by 2011

Alberto (aka eDiver)

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

WW population? World wide? Would that be in billions then?
I found the US data indicates 239 million in the US alone. (don't have the number in front of me, I think it was 2006)

 

[mdb]

Scuba Jenny:

There is no way that there are 239 million divers in the USA. That would be 75% of the population.

Best guess would be, at most, 1% of the general population ever certified-so maybe-but doubtful- 3 million folks could call themselves divers, how many actually diving, a small fraction of that. My call would be half of that-perhaps a million or two certified within the last 10 yrs. most not now active divers.

From what we can ascertain less than 250,000 new divers were certified last year in the US-just new certs, not multiple specialties etc, This is a very small fraction of 1% of the general population.

 

[Stu S.]

There is a service called Leisure Trends that provides information about recreational markets, participants, and how those markets are served. Reports from them are available for a fee, often exceeding $1000. They have reports about SCUBA.

The number of divers participating after certification can only be estimated. A dive shop owner in our area says 90% of the people certified are not diving a year later.

Stu.

(ham radio WE4UF)

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Scuba Jenny:

There is no way that there are 239 million divers in the USA. That would be 75% of the population.

Best guess would be, at most, 1% of the general population ever certified-so maybe-but doubtful- 3 million folks could call themselves divers, how many actually diving, a small fraction of that. My call would be half of that-perhaps a million or two certified within the last 10 yrs. most not now active divers.

From what we can ascertain less than 250,000 new divers were certified last year in the US-just new certs, not multiple specialties etc, This is a very small fraction of 1% of the general population.

Sorry.. 239 million people total.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

There is a service called Leisure Trends that provides information about recreational markets, participants, and how those markets are served. Reports from them are available for a fee, often exceeding $1000. They have reports about SCUBA.

The number of divers participating after certification can only be estimated. A dive shop owner in our area says 90% of the people certified are not diving a year later.

Stu.

(ham radio WE4UF)

Thanks! I will see what I can gather from them.

 

[devilfish]

Nobody really knows. Agencies do inflate numbers but the bigger problem in estimating how many is for example, somebody gets certified with one agency, takes an advanced course from anoter agency and a specialty from another agency yet. Each agency records a certificatin, in the industry it looks like there are three divers, but in reality it's the same diver. So who knows. As for how many active divers, again who knows. the drop out rate is stronomical, divers who get certified and never dive after.

 

[scubafanatic]

The number of divers participating after certification can only be estimated. A dive shop owner in our area says 90% of the people certified are not diving a year later.

Stu.

(ham radio WE4UF)

WOW !!! Really makes one wonder why the drop out rate, especially so soon after certification, is so high ? One wonders in what ways the perception of diving differs so radically from the reality of diving for so many people ?