There's an interesting page in National Geographic this month called "Ways to Go". Using statistics it lists what events have the greatest chance of ending a life. It includes the chart below, which shows what the lifetime probabilities are of a U.S. resident dying in a relatively common event or less common but larger scale catastrophe, such as an earthquake. There are some interesting stats there. For example, you have a greater chance of dying by a legal execution than by lightning, flood, or earthquake.
Cause of death |
Lifetime probability of U.S. resident dying |
| Fireworks discharge |
1 in 340,733 |
| Flood |
1 in 144,156 |
| Earthquake |
1 in 117,127 |
| Lightning |
1 in 79,746 |
| Legal execution |
1 in 62,468 |
| Hornet, wasp, or bee sting |
1 in 56,789 |
| Hot weather |
1 in 13,729 |
| Alcohol poisoning |
1 in 10,048 |
| Accidental electrocution |
1 in 9,968 |
| Accidental firearm discharge |
1 in 5,134 |
| Air/space accident |
1 in 5,051 |
| Bicycling accident |
1 in 4,919 |
| Fire or smoke |
1 in 1,113 |
| Motorcycle accident |
1 in 1,020 |
| Drowning |
1 in 1,008 |
| Pedestrian accident |
1 in 626 |
| Firearm assault |
1 in 314 |
| Falling |
1 in 218 |
| Suicide |
1 in 119 |
| Motor vehicle accident |
1 in 84 |
| Stroke |
1 in 24 |
| Cancer |
1 in 7 |
| Heart disease |
1 in 5 |
July 25, 2006 in
Life |
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