how many active skydivers are there world wide??

[gstutt 0]

[ParaStyx 0]

Here is number 1, start counting

[b3ndech0 0]

2

[NWFlyer 2]

You've had an account here for 7 1/2 years and this is the question you went with for your first post? Okay, I'll bite.

There's no real way to calculate or even get a decent estimate of that number. Perhaps the closest number you could come up with would be to contact the national association around the world and add up the membership numbers or the licensed skydiver counts. But that would give you some double-counting as some people hold multiple memberships. It's also not going to tell you anything about whether they're active, as many people taking a break from skydiving maintain their memberships for various reasons.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[skydiverek 63]

I am pretty sure there are around 70,000 active licensed skydivers worldwide.

[Remster 30]

skydiverek

I am pretty sure there are around 70,000 active licensed skydivers worldwide.

This number seems way high to me. Maybe with a license, but not active.

Remster

[piisfish 140]

42

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[skydiverek 63]

Remster

***I am pretty sure there are around 70,000 active licensed skydivers worldwide.

This number seems way high to me. Maybe with a license, but not active.

Correct, with 'paid licenses'. 35,000 in the US alone, correct (USPA members)? And the US makes 50% of world jumps, so I figured there must be 50% more paid licenses worldwide, making the other half of jumps.

[Boogers 0]

Define "active".

[NWFlyer 2]

skydiverek

Correct, with 'paid licenses'. 35,000 in the US alone, correct (USPA members)? And the US makes 50% of world jumps, so I figured there must be 50% more paid licenses worldwide, making the other half of jumps.

Not all USPA members are licensed skydivers.

Not all USPA members who are licensed skydivers are active jumpers.

And where did you get the "US = half the world's jumps" number? And how many of those jumps are made by non-US jumpers?

We could swag at this all day but it's always just going to be a swag.

The only correct answer in this thread is 42.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[ChuckMartin 0]

56,142, I might not be right but you'll never be able to prove me wrong.

[fastphil 0]

Define "active", I've seen skydivers lie dormant for hours at a time

[erdnarob 1]

70 000 active skydivers in the world is quite realistic.
Estimated figures :
* USA 20 000 active out of 33 000 registred
* Europe (certainly as much as the USA) say 20 000 active
* Canada 2500 active out of 3400 registred
* South America 2000 active
* Australia 1500 active
* Russia 10 000 active
* China 10 000 active
* rest of the world 5000 active
This estimation does not take in account the military.

Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

[strife 0]

APF has 2589 sporting licensed members in 2012 annual report

[JohnnyBoulder 1]

erdnarob

70 000 active skydivers in the world is quite realistic.
Estimated figures :
* USA 20 000 active out of 33 000 registred
* Europe (certainly as much as the USA) say 20 000 active
* Canada 2500 active out of 3400 registred
* South America 2000 active
* Australia 1500 active
* Russia 10 000 active
* China 10 000 active
* rest of the world 5000 active
This estimation does not take in account the military.

Was that 20,000 / 33,000 active number from the USPA, another data source, or a guess? Side note, but I like to view risk of fatality on an aggregate annual per participant basis (fatalities / active jumpers). That would throw my numbers way off. Thanks

[mjosparky 4]

JohnnyBoulder

***70 000 active skydivers in the world is quite realistic.
Estimated figures :
* USA 20 000 active out of 33 000 registred
* Europe (certainly as much as the USA) say 20 000 active
* Canada 2500 active out of 3400 registred
* South America 2000 active
* Australia 1500 active
* Russia 10 000 active
* China 10 000 active
* rest of the world 5000 active
This estimation does not take in account the military.

Was that 20,000 / 33,000 active number from the USPA, another data source, or a guess? Side note, but I like to view risk of fatality on an aggregate annual per participant basis (fatalities / active jumpers). That would throw my numbers way off. Thanks

Where the hell did "risk of fatality" come from? You need to reset you audible.

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[skydiverek 63]

Is there even non-military jumping in China...?

[Arvoitus 1]

skydiverek

Is there even non-military jumping in China...?

My understanding is that there isn't, maybe I've been given bad info.

Your rights end where my feelings begin.

[shropshire 0]

I went for a run yesterday .. that makes me pretty active.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[JohnnyBoulder 1]

Spark: I asked for the source of the 20,000 active USPA vs. 33,000 data. I use that number for some statistical analysis of fatalities, so a side bar question.

[Ganza 0]

erdnarob

70 000 active skydivers in the world is quite realistic.
Estimated figures :
* USA 20 000 active out of 33 000 registred
* Europe (certainly as much as the USA) say 20 000 active
* Canada 2500 active out of 3400 registred
* South America 2000 active
* Australia 1500 active
* Russia 10 000 active
* China 10 000 active
* rest of the world 5000 active
This estimation does not take in account the military.

This estimative about south america is wrong. Only in Brazil, at the moment we have exactly 3416 members who paid the membership this year, and we have many active jumpers who didn't. I can't say how many of the registered members are inactive, but probably almost none, because we don't have any advantage as members of Brazilian Parachute Confederation (like USPA has insurance, parachutist magazine, rental car discount etc). So, nobody in brazil pay to stay inactive. Even it's kind of mandatory to be registered, there is jumpers against the confederation and they don't pay the annual membership.[

[gunver79 0]

The German Parachuting Federation estimates 10.000 active skydivers (out of 17.424 licence holders). The French association counts 45.825 licence holders and the British has 30.000 members.
Assuming a similar active/passive-rate as in Germany or the US, we could safely say that there should be around 45.000 active skydivers in these three countries alone.

All in all my guess would be somewhere above 100.000 worldwide as follows:

erdnarob

Estimated figures :
* USA 20 000 active out of 33 000 registred
* Europe at least 45.000 active out of at least out of at least 90.000 registered [changed by me explanation above]
* Canada 2500 active out of 3400 registred
* South America at least 4000 active [according to Ganza/changed by me]
* Australia 1500 active
* Russia 10 000 active
* China 10 000 active
* rest of the world 5000 active

[raff 4]

I've done some extensive research and have come up with the following: 82.5% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

If you leave the plane without a parachute, you will be fine for the rest of your life.

[JeffCa 0]

I have a very difficult time believing that there are half as many active skydivers in China as in the USA. Where does this 10,000 in China number come from? I'm living in that area of the world, and have never heard of a large community there, or any dropzones to visit. Was it completely a guess based on its population, or is there sport jumping going on there that I've just never heard of?

Depending on how you define "active", I'd estimate only between 200-400 in Japan. Not familiar with the 2-3 other DZs in the country, but know that ours is the biggest, with the biggest plane, and we're still kinda small.

"So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

[michalm21 2]

You're not considering double counting the ones having multiple licenses which is not unusual (and actually quite common)
Also you write about license holders/members - you can't correlate same ratio of active skydivers as you do not know all variables and licensing rules are different from country to country.
Lets take a look at populations too

US - 319,000,000 people - 33,000 active license holders (not active skydivers)
Germany - 80,000,000 people - 17,424 license holders (seems more less reasonable, but how many have USPA membership and is included in US number?)
UK - 64,000,000 people - 30,000 members (really? - 5x less people same number of members? Also how many hold USPA license therefore count toward the US number as well?)
France - 66,000,000 people - 45,825 license holders. So 1/5 of population but 1.5x the licenses. Do they count military members?
Also, how many have USPA membership as well?

I'd be surprised if there were significantly more than 50-60,000 active skydivers in the world. Maybe 75,000 if I were to stretch it .... but who knows.