You’re not going to be killed by a shark or terrorists.
What you're scared of: Terrorism
Politicians often describe terrorism as an "existential threat" to the West, or to our way of life. But it's really not. In 2013, almost 18,000 people died in terror attacks in 2013. That was obviously horrible, and a large rise from the previous year. But according to the Global Terrorism Report, which came up with the 18,000 figure, nearly 15,000 of those deaths were in just five countries: Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. That means that outside of those countries, there areall manner of things that are more likely to kill you: fireworks, for example, claim 14 times as many lives per year.
Smoke rises from an explosives-laden military vehicle driven by an Islamic State suicide bomber, March 12, 2015. Thaier Al-sudani / Reuters
Now this is a proper existential threat. "Superbugs", ordinary germs that have evolved a resistance to the antibiotics we use, are already implicated in around 700,000 deaths a year. A review by the UK government estimated that by 2050, that figure will have risen to 10 million.
Even worse, if antibiotics become useless, much of modern medicine will become unworkable. Major surgical procedures such as caesarean sections and open heart surgery rely on the use of antibiotics, as does chemotherapy.
What you're scared of: Murder
Polls show that people in America and Britain think that violent crime is rising. But it's been falling for decades.
In 2013, a total of about 437,000 people worldwide were murdered. That sounds like a lot, but it's way down the World Health Organisation's list of things that are likely to kill you.
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Above violence in the WHO's list were diabetes (988,000 deaths), diseases of the genitourinary system (848,000 deaths), and lower respiratory tract infections (3,884,000 deaths). Even the flu might be more of a threat. Influenza kills between 250,000 and 500,000 every year, and you probably don't live in constant fear of the flu.
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