You’re more likely to die by selfie than shark attack

Harry Readhead

The pursuit of the perfect selfie can be a dangerous business (Picture: Gabriel Barathieu/mediadrumworld.com)

In late September last year, we wrote that selfies had killed more people than sharks in 2015.
It followed a spate of tragic and quite unbelievable selfie-related deaths including the electrocution of a Russian teenager and the tumbling of a tourist down the steps of the Taj Mahal.
Now the figures have been well and truly crunched, and it’s official: you are more likely to die from a selfie than you are from a shark attack.
Zachary Crockett of Priceonomics trawled through three years of news stories from around the world and broke down the facts and figures.

Causes of Selfie-Related Fatalities (Source: Zachary Crockett)

He found that at least 49 people, 75 per cent of whom are male, have died from selfies since 2014. The average is 21 years old.
Most of these deaths involve a fall from heights or drowning, but selfies have also led indirectly to deaths by train, gunshot, grenade, plane crash, car crash and animal.
India has the most cases of accidental selfie deaths. It accounts for 19, which is 40 per cent of the total. Russia follows, and the country launched a ‘safe selfies’ campaign in 2015 to raise awareness.
As for shark deaths, there were just eight last year. In the same year, there were 28 deaths involving selfies.

Selfies vs Other Accidental Deaths in 2015 (Source: Zachary Crockett)