What are the odds of being attacked by a shark, and dying? We are about to find out. They are known as the terror of the deep. They have sinister eyes and powerful jaws with row after row of razor sharp teeth. Aided by popular movies and TV shows, the shark is enemy number 1 in the wild. But are these fears justified? What are the odds of actually being attacked by a shark this year and dying?

Not that they are looking for sympathy, but most shark attacks occur solely because they are hungry. You grab a burger at a fast food joint just like a shark has to hunt. Unfortunately a pair of legs may look like a couple of cod. The sharks generally have three ways in which they hunt. The first is the hit and run. It happens near beaches where the sharks lurk around looking for food. They mistake the human movement, usually near the surface, for regular fish. They then take one bite, which rarely causes death, and swim away.

The second is the sneak attack, which usually happens in deeper water. The victim usually does not see the shark before it strikes. It’s these attacks that are sometimes fatal. Finally there is the bump and bite. This happens when the shark circles its victim before attacking, it often takes more than one bite and strikes repeatedly. So what are the odds that you will be a victim to one of these attacks this year and die?

Contrary to popular belief, shark attacks are rare. On average about 33 Americans are attacked each year. So, your odds of being attacked are about one in 9 million. Less than one American each year is killed by a shark. So, your odds of being killed by a shark are about 1 in 400 million. Now, over half of all US shark attacks take place on the beaches of Florida. If you visit a Florida beach, then your odds of being attacked increase to 1 in 430,000, which is still quite rare. Your odds of being killed by a shark in Florida are about 1 in 36 million. So, it would seem as if going back to the water is safe after all.