Deaths-Defying Odds
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| Annual odds of an asteroid colliding with the Earth and obliterating all life: | 1 in 50,000,000 |
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| Annual odds of being killed in an airplane crash (United States) | 1 in 432,484 |
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| Of being killed while cycling (United States) | 1 in 348,347 |
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| Of dying from complications of medical or surgical care (United States) | 1 in 101,858 |
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| Of dying during an assault by firearm (United States) | 1 in 25,263 |
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| Of dying in a car accident (United States) | 1 in 19,216 |
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| Of any given species going extinct | 1 in 1,000 |
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| Of dying of cancer (United States) | 1 in 527 |
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| Of being a victim of identity theft | 1 in 465 |
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| Of dying of cancer (United Kingdom) | 1 in 391 |
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| Of one’s spouse or cohabiting partner committing adultery | 1 in 20 |
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| Of God not being dead (according to theoretical physicist Stephen Unwin) | 1 in 1.5 |
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SOURCES: Asteroid: New York Times, April 15, 2008. Airplane crash, cycling, complications, assault, and car accident: U.S. National Safety Council. Species: E.O. Wilson in Grist, December 12, 2001. Identity theft: Tech News Watch, November 12, 2004. U.K. cancer: Cancer Research UK. Infidelity: J. Treas and D. Giesen, Journal of Marriage and the Family, 2000. God: The Guardian, March 8, 2004.
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