"Iceland is the only place in the world with universal swim literacy."
Sweden also mandates swim lessons for grade school students, though not all schools manage to live up to the requirement.
Sweden also mandates swim lessons for grade school students, though not all schools manage to live up to the requirement.
Now they drown more outside of school because they don’t learn to swim unless your parents have the planning, logistics interest and budget to enrol in paid lessons (or teach them yourself).
Doesn’t help that we have a lot of immigrants from places that also didn’t teach people how to swim.
https://www.lifesavingsociety.com/media/239967/2016newsrelea...
Even the fully-owned city public pools often have an entrance fee (at least based on one near me).
In many parts of the country the swimming areas are provided by lakes and rivers.
Fun fact: most hotels that have a pool will let you use it for free or a small charge even if you're not staying there; ask at the desk.
We were even banned from going to the waterpark when going to amusement parks.
It was something like "no canoes in the pond" or something, I cannot recall.
But it was enough of an excuse for the friendly insurance agent to get the quote dropped down (and by more than the actual actuarial tables would suggest I suspect).
Swimming lessons for kids are possible of course but they are organized via sports clubs or municipal swimming pools both of which are not free.
It's a shame, because it's both useful – potentially life-saving useful – and fun. When I lived in Asia I tried teaching some adults to swim, and even just floating on water is hard for most.
[1]: https://www.sportenstrategie.nl/sportonderzoek/van-a-diploma...
When you don't send your kids to swimming lessons you potentially deprive them of fun days away with their classmates because they need that swimming diploma to be allowed to come.
As a teenager I ended up carving our a niche among my fellow lifeguard/ swim teachers for myself teaching adult men to swim. I suspect it was their pride stopping them from taking lessons from the (far more prolific) girls, who often times were teaching their kids to swim.
I did notice when I lived there that people found swimming lessons very important, to the extent that cards to congratulate children on passing their swimming test are commonly sold.