Every day, each of us must negotiate a world that can kill us in a thousand ways. From household chemicals that can poison you, to bacteria in food, accidents in the home, accidents on the street, illnesses, violent attacks, and unexpected natural disasters—every day presents a cornucopia of potential chaos. But we cope. In fact, we cope so well that we can begin to underestimate just how dangerous much of the world really is.
10. Prescription drugs are more dangerous than street drugs.
Most of us have heard the media or politicians talk about the opioid crisis, but the fact is that the current fear of drug abuse is just the latest in a long history of prescription medications proving far more dangerous than so-called street or illicit drugs. This makes sense, given that street drugs are typically much harder for the average person to find, and also far less desirable. Why would a wealthy middle-class person seek out crack cocaine when their own doctor can prescribe something more effective, and one that might also be covered by their drug plan?
In 2020, researchers from two universities concluded that while official drug-related deaths in 2016 were reported at around 9%, the reality was likely at least double that. more . Official data focused primarily on overdoses and drug-related disorders, ignoring things like suicides or physical conditions worsened or even caused by drug use.
As early as 2012, prescription drug abuse was already far ahead of cocaine and heroin in terms of deaths. Historically, doctors had a habit of irresponsibly overprescribing painkillers, leading to overdoses in many patients. And while we're more aware of this today, it's still a serious problem. nearly 107,000 drug overdoses In 2021, more than 80,000 were related to opioids. Stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamine accounted for approximately 54,000 cases.
9. Mosquitoes kill more people than any other animal.
In 2022, there were 57 unprovoked shark attacks and 5 shark-related deaths . In 2019 died from dog attacks 48 Americans . But mosquitoes? They kill about 725,000 people per year. They are the deadliest creatures on earth after humans.
Mosquitoes carry such diseases , such as West Nile, malaria, Zika fever, dengue fever, and many others. Since mosquitoes live in every country on earth, except Iceland , almost everyone is at risk of one mosquito-borne disease or another, depending on where they are.
8. Dirty water kills more people than war.
It's hard to overstate the value of access to clean water, and when you don't have it, the results can be devastating. Residents Flint, Michigan, have been dealing with contaminated water since at least 2014, and progress toward returning them to safe, clean water is still ongoing as a result of numerous setbacks in remediating the situation caused by the municipal water supply being switched to the Flint River and the subsequent damage to pipes in the city as a result.
According to the UN, back in 2010 every 20 seconds one child under the age of five died due to water-related diseases. Cloudy water claims more lives than even war. Worldwide, about 772 million people still lack even basic access to clean water. This is more than twice the population of the entire United States.
Dirty water can lead to diseases such as cholera, hepatitis, and many others. It not only causes more deaths than war, but also more deaths than natural disasters and war combined. In 2020, approximately 8,200 people died as a result of natural disasters and 87,400 people died in wars and conflicts. However, approximately 485,000 people died due to lack of access to clean water.
7. Autoerotic asphyxiation kills 100 times more people than sharks.
By now, most of us know that shark attacks are almost insignificant; sharks have been horribly maligned in the past, and they're generally quite docile creatures that aren't usually dangerous at all. But since they do have a fearsome reputation and are so frightening, there's a certain humor in using them in these comparisons, saying that people are more likely to die from X than from a shark attack. The point is to shock by contrast.
If you're looking for a real shock, this is the statistic you're looking for. Autoerotic asphyxiation kills approximately 50 to 200 times more people in the US each year than shark attacks worldwide. In fact, dies from it from 250 to 1000 people per year. Depending on the range of dates studied, this could be increased to 500–1000 per year . Sharks, as we've already mentioned, killed only 5 people in 2022. So, autoerotic asphyxiation is potentially 200 times more deadly than shark attacks. Maybe Spielberg could make a movie about it.
6. Livestock kill more people in Australia than spiders and snakes.
Australia has a reputation as an inhospitable land where everything is poisonous in one way or another. And while it is true that many of the most venomous creatures in the world call Australia home, they're not the ones you need to keep an eye on. They're the horses. Horses and cows in Australia they kill There are more people there than snakes or spiders.
Between 2008 and 2017, cows and horses teamed up to kill 77 people. Spiders haven't even killed anyone there since the 1970s. And as for snakes, death toll from 2000 to 2013 amounted to 27 people.
The discrepancy likely stems more from the fact that people understand they need to avoid deadly snakes and spiders and therefore avoid them, while simultaneously failing to realize how potentially dangerous livestock and horses can be. People should interact with cows and horses, not venomous snakes.
5. Radon kills more people than house fires.
Radon is something you've almost never heard of, which is odd considering how dangerous it is. It's the number one cause of lung cancer in nonsmokers, annually dies around 21,000 people . This is more than house fires and carbon monoxide combined , not to mention drownings. And it's a little more alarming when you find out it's happening naturally, it's probably in your home, and before 25% houses have dangerous levels of it, but homeowners don't realize it. Approximately in one of 15 American homes high radon levels.
Most of us think we'll never have to worry about radiation, and perhaps that's why radon is such a problem. It's a radioactive gas, a natural byproduct of uranium decay. As uranium breaks down in soil worldwide, radon is released, which can slowly leak into your home's basement through the foundation if there are any cracks or crevices to the outside world. Once inside, it becomes trapped and accumulates. It sounds like it might be a problem for an older home, but some newer homes are even worse than older ones. And since the gas is colorless and odorless, it's quite difficult to tell one way or another.
4. Food poisoning is almost as dangerous as murder.
Research shows that around25% Americans fear an attack right in their own neighborhood. In fact, you have 1 in 14,295 chance be robbed on the street and even less likely to be killed. In 2021 in America a little more than was committed 26,000 murders. In 2017, all over the world was committed 464,000 murders . While this is nothing to joke about, you should keep an eye on your chef as closely as you would any potential murderers.
According to research by the World Health Organization, about 420,000 people per year die from foodborne illnesses or food poisoning. These are only fatalities. About 600 million people become ill each year.
In America, about 48 million people get food poisoning each year, and 128,000 of them are hospitalized. Of these, about 3,000 die a year .
3. Captive killer whales kill more people than wild ones.
The name "killer whale" certainly creates certain expectations about the kind of animal you're dealing with. Despite the name, killer whales generally pose no danger to humans, and there are no records of a person ever being killed by a wild killer whale. attacks are rare And most likely, these were mistakes. But that doesn't mean they didn't kill anyone.
In a cruel, though entirely appropriate, twist, orcas can and do kill people, but only when you try to keep them in captivity. Four deaths were the result of attacks by captive whales, and three of them were caused by the same whale, a killer whale named Tilikum, who had been kept in captivity for 33 years old at Sea World.
2. Hurricanes with female names are more deadly than male ones.
Every year during hurricane season, parts of the United States must brace for the inevitable as storms swarm, causing chaos and, in many cases, loss of life. In 2022, Hurricane Jan alone claimed the lives of 144 people .
It's nearly impossible to predict how deadly a hurricane might be, but a curious pattern has emerged over the past few years. Hurricanes with female names more deadly . There is even a reason.
Hurricanes are named as they form each year, and they are named alphabetically and by gender. The World Meteorological Association has list of names , and they switch between men and women. They have names for six years before the lists are reused.
It has been argued that female storms are more deadly due to social bias and sexism. People are less likely to perceive a storm with a female name as dangerous because it has a female name. When lower risk is perceived , people are less likely to prepare properly and the damage will be greater.
1. Depression may be linked to hundreds of thousands of deaths each year.
There's still a stigma against depression and those who suffer from it, a kind of universal belief that you can overcome it if you just try to cheer yourself up. Gradually, people are coming to understand that clinical depression is more than just a low mood, but this takes time. Meanwhile, we also lose sight of how devastating depression can be.
Depression may be linked to hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. More than 121 million people are known to suffer from depression, and many more likely remain undiagnosed. Severe depression leading to suicide is believed to take a toll. 850,000 lives per year . Every . 12 minutes someone in the US dies by suicide. That's far more than wars, murders, and natural disasters combined. In fact, in 2015, suicide deaths almost twice as much from murders in America.