The Odds of Dying Doing Popular Activities

Some number-crunchers looked over some government stats to figure out the odds of dying while doing some popular activities.

Here’s a rundown of some of the highlights:

  • bicycling -- 7.1 deaths per one million participants
  • running/jogging -- 1 death in a million
  • skydiving -- 1 in 101,083 jumps
  • snow boarding -- 1 in 2.2 million
  • canoeing -- 1 in 10,000

Those are pretty good odds. Things get a bit tighter with the following:

  • rock climbing -- 1 in 1,750
  • hang gliding -- 1 in 560
  • base jumping -- 1 in 60 (Best Health Degrees)


  • Once you get into the thousands or hundreds, the numbers feel “real.” Your brain knows what those numbers mean. And, in the dozens … like base jumping … that’s very real.

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