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Based on this data, the fire death rate in the US is 1.16 per 100k pop. and the rate in Switzerland is 0.28 per 100k pop. Percentage wise, that's a big differen

Based on this data, the fire death rate in the US is 1.16 per 100k pop. and the rate in Switzerland is 0.28 per 100k pop. Percentage wise, that's a big difference, but that's only because both of these numbers are extremely small. I don't think it's really accurate to say you're much more likely to die in a fire in the USA; it's extremely rare in both countries.

ISL 7y ago
1.16/0.28 is a big difference. If Switzerland had the US rate, ~75 more people would die every year. If the US had the Swiss rate, ~2800 people would live to see another year.
- briandear 7y ago
  An extra 2800 people out of a population of 380 million? Statistically meaningless.
  - peteretep 7y ago
    The victim death count from 9/11 was 2,977, and that appeared to have at least some effect on the American psyche
    - twic 7y ago
      The deaths didn't. The news coverage of the deaths did.
- modriano 7y ago
  I know the US (330 mil. pop.) is a much larger country than Switzerland (8 mil. pop.). You also could have said: "The cost of improving the Swiss housing and infrastructure to reduce the mortality rate due to fire would be a miniscule fraction of what it would be in the US". You have to normalize to look at these things, and you also have to look at the bigger picture, or you could totally mislead yourself. Put in normalized terms, - 0.00028% of the Swiss pop. dies from fire annually - 0.00116% of the US pop. dies from fire annually - 0.001% of the US pop. dies from drowning annually - 0.001% of the US pop. dies from exposure to mechanical force annually - 0.006% of the US pop. dies from gunshot annually - 0.01% of the US pop. dies from falling annually - 0.015% of the US pop. dies from road injuries annually - 0.03% of the US pop. dies from respiratory illness annually Here's [0] a visualization I made of causes of mortality a few years back. Play around with this a little bit; it's pretty interesting looking at actual mortality rates. [0] http://bl.ocks.org/MattTriano/raw/154e9c142504d61985e2b65287e389be/ http://bl.ocks.org/MattTriano/raw/154e9c142504d61985e2b65287...

ISL 7y ago

1.16/0.28 is a big difference. If Switzerland had the US rate, ~75 more people would die every year. If the US had the Swiss rate, ~2800 people would live to see another year.

briandear 7y ago
An extra 2800 people out of a population of 380 million? Statistically meaningless.
- peteretep 7y ago
  The victim death count from 9/11 was 2,977, and that appeared to have at least some effect on the American psyche
  - twic 7y ago
    The deaths didn't. The news coverage of the deaths did.
modriano 7y ago
I know the US (330 mil. pop.) is a much larger country than Switzerland (8 mil. pop.). You also could have said: "The cost of improving the Swiss housing and infrastructure to reduce the mortality rate due to fire would be a miniscule fraction of what it would be in the US". You have to normalize to look at these things, and you also have to look at the bigger picture, or you could totally mislead yourself. Put in normalized terms, - 0.00028% of the Swiss pop. dies from fire annually - 0.00116% of the US pop. dies from fire annually - 0.001% of the US pop. dies from drowning annually - 0.001% of the US pop. dies from exposure to mechanical force annually - 0.006% of the US pop. dies from gunshot annually - 0.01% of the US pop. dies from falling annually - 0.015% of the US pop. dies from road injuries annually - 0.03% of the US pop. dies from respiratory illness annually Here's [0] a visualization I made of causes of mortality a few years back. Play around with this a little bit; it's pretty interesting looking at actual mortality rates. [0] http://bl.ocks.org/MattTriano/raw/154e9c142504d61985e2b65287e389be/ http://bl.ocks.org/MattTriano/raw/154e9c142504d61985e2b65287...