How Death Comes! The Odds Are ...

Death may be the only certainty in life - but how it comes about is anything but certain. Papers released from secret UK government archives last week revealed that in 1980 government scientists were told to calculate the exact chances of a Briton being killed by a falling asteroid. The study was an attempt to persuade the public that nuclear power was safe, and that there were plenty of other things that were statistically more lethal than a neighbourhood reactor. After much consideration, the men in white coats calculated that one member of the public would be killed by an asteroid every 7,000 years. Here are some other causes of death - and just what the odds are of your meeting your Maker in that way...

SHARK ATTACK
300,000,000:1
ROUND 40 people are killed every year from shark attacks, with the numbers increasing as more people take holidays on coasts where sharks live.


DYING OF A SNAKE BITE
3,500,000:1
SNAKE bites kill an estimated 25,000 people a year. More people die from snakebite in India than in any other country in the world, with the total death toll estimated I to average 10 - 12,000 annually.


SCALDED BY HOT TAP WATER
5,000,000:1
CHILDREN under five are most at risk, with 126 accidents reported every year in Britain. In Japan, around 150 people die from hot water scalding every year.


DYING FROM A HEART ATTACK OR STROKE
2.5:1
THE leading cause of death in Britain, coronary heart disease and strokes account for over 200,000 deaths every I year. Someone has a heart attack every two minutes.


BEING KILLED IN A TRAIN CRASH
500,000:1
DESPITE a number of fatal crashes, public transport is still the safest way to travel. Buses are even safer than trains, with the odds of being killed 13 million to one..


DYING FROM CANCER
5:1
AROUND 130,000 people die from cancer every year, of whom 65,000 are ' aged under 75.The most common killers are lung, breast, colon and prostate cancer.


KILLED BY THE ESCAPE OF RADIATION FROM A NEARBY NUCLEAR POWER STATION
10,000,000:1
THE chances of an explosion at a nuclear reactor are increasing with the risk of terrorism and as conventional fuels run out.The Chernobyl nuclear disaster and its aftermath has killed an estimated 30,000 people.


FALLING COCONUT
250,000,000:1
COCONUTS apparently kill around 150 people every year. Falling from a height of 80 feet, they can build up an impact speed of 50 mph.


LEFT-HANDED PEOPLE KILLED USING A RIGHT-HANDED PRODUCT
4,400,000:1
MORE than 2,500 left-handed people are killed every year around the world from using equipment meant for righthanded people.The right-handed power saw is the most deadly item.