Friday Factoids - Odds of Dying
March 7, 2008
This weeks Friday Factoids come to us from the National Safety Council’s compilation of injury reports since the 1920s. They have compiled a list of the odds of dying, most recent version is 2004, we’ll cover some of the more colorful and odd ways to die.
All choices to include in this short list were picked because you are more likely to die from them in any one year than to hit the Mega Millions lottery jackpot (odds on that are 1 in 175,711,536). If I were you, I’d stop playing and worry some more about not dying.
| Cause of Death | Odds of Dying in a Year | Odds of Dying in Your Lifetime |
| All External Causes | 1 in 1,756 | 1 in 23 |
| Exposure to forces of nature | 1 in 266,476 | 1 in 3,421 |
| Lightning Strike | 1 in 6,383,844 | 1 in 81,949 |
| Exposure to excessive natural cold | 1 in 434,404 | 1 in 5,576 |
| Accidental Poisoning by Narcotics and psychodysleptics | 1 in 29,971 | 1 in 385 |
| Accidental Poisoning by Other and unspecified drugs, medicaments, and biologicals | 1 in 34,434 | 1 in 442 |
| General Transport Accident | 1 in 6,197 | 1 in 80 |
| Air and Space Transport Accident | 1 in 432,484 | 1 in 5,552 |
| Bus Occupant | 1 in 7,341,421 | 1 in 94,425 |
| Occupant of Streetcar§ | 1 in 293,656,842 | 1 in 3,769,664 |
To look over the entire list, check out the National Safety Council’s site on the Odds of Dying.
§This is the only cause of death where you actually have a greater chance of winning the lottery. The NSC only records one death from being the occupant of a streetcar, obviously much safer than driving or flying.
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