Nine, then sixteen
Nine civilian skydiving deaths in the United States in 2024, sixteen in 2025. The card ticks about 15, against more than three million jumps a year.
The United States Parachute Association has published a fatality count for civilian skydiving since 1961, beside an estimate of how many jumps were made. In 2024 the count fell to nine, from about 3.88 million jumps. In 2025 it was sixteen, from about 3.47 million. The card ticks 15, a round centre of those two years, and the second line is the 2025 count.
The rate, and the count
Nine in a year is not "skydiving became safe". Sixteen the next year is not "skydiving became dangerous". The association's own index, deaths per 100,000 jumps, was 0.23 in 2024 and 0.46 in 2025. In 1961, by the same index, it was about 11. The absolute count is what the Ledger ticks, because every other card on the dashboard is a count of deaths, not a rate per exposure. The jumps are why the count can be this small and still be a watched activity.
The figure is civilian skydiving in the United States. The association also estimates jumps made abroad. It does not turn that into a world death total, and neither does this card.
What the old card was doing
Roller coaster "failures", which this card replaces, were 40 associated deaths in the United States across ten years ending in 2004. Most of the riders in that review died of a medical event on the ride. The noun said the machine broke. The skydiving file is a count of deaths in the activity, published by the body that watches it, with the year written on the card.