Ebola vs. Lottery: Your Odds Of Winning Jackpot Are Much Better
By John Dodge
CHICAGO (CBS) -- With all of the coverage surrounding the potential spread of Ebola in the United States, it might be time to step back and consider your odds of actually dying from the virus.
A graphic in on the Washington Post website, uses 2010 population figures to calculate your odds of dying from Ebola in the next year: 1 in 309,629,415.
The odds of winning the Powerball Jackpot--currently $159 million--about 1 in 175,000,000.
That's right, your odds are way better on the lottery. Of course, those Ebola odds would change if the United States sees an increase in deaths, but the odds of dying from Ebola are much lower here than in West Africa, where the virus outbreak originated.
The Post calculates several other scenarios, including:
Choking on vomit: about 1 in 1,000,000 in the next year.
Influenza: about 1 in about 6,100
Cancer: about 1 in 530
