I have good news and bad news for you. The bad news? We're all going to die one day. But hey, the good news is that, according to this infographic, your chances of dying while doing your favorite activity are probably pretty slim. So… at least there's that, right? I'm all for enjoying fun hobbies while simultaneously not fearing that said hobbies are going to lead to your untimely demise.
For the curious, the current life expectancy in the United States is 78.8 years, according to the CDC — which, when you think about it, is pretty impressive. The World Health Organization reports that in the mid-20th century, the average global lifespan was about 48 years, and in 1901, it was only 31. My, how the times do change, right?
But of course, it's not all sunshine and rainbows; we may be living longer these days, but we're also getting sick more. According to a study published just this past August in The Lancet journal, the global life expectancy has risen by 6.2 years, up from 65.3 in 1990 and 71.5 in 2013; however, we're also living more years with illness and disability. Said study lead Theo Vos, a professor at the University of Washington's Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation, about the findings, “The world has made great progress in health, but now the challenge is to invest in finding more effective ways of preventing or treating the major causes of illness and disability.” Indeed, four of the top five leading causes of death, according to the CDC, are illness-related: Heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, and stroke. Here's what they look like in map form, in case you want to be even more of a Debbie Downer about it.
The fifth, though? That's where this infographic comes in. Every year in the United States, 130,557 deaths result from accidents or unintentional injury. But hey, at least we now know that they're not the most common cause of death, right? According to the infographic, your chances of dying while swimming or running are one in 1 million; for snowboarding, the odds are one in 2.2 million; for skiing, one in 1.4 million; and for bungee jumping, one in 500,000. And hey, if you play either tabletop or video games, guess what? Your chances of dying as a result of those activities are only one in 100 million. That doesn't mean it can't happen; just this past January, a man in Taiwan died after a three-day-long video gaming marathon, and he's far from the only one. But as long as you don't neglect your own health while gaming, you're probably going to be fine.
Check out the full infographic below:
