Did you know that 59% of men and 66% of women have lost their attraction to someone after a first kiss? That people are more likely to die in January and March than other months? That the odds of someone wait-listed for MIT eventually getting in are 1 in 5.8?
You would if you perused “The Book of Odds” (William Morrow), a new collection of the statistics that rule everyday life.
Compiled by Amram Shapiro, Louise Firth Campbell and Rosalind Wright, it includes odds for everything from love and sex (1 in 7.4 adults have had a threesome) to politics (there’s a 1 in 2.7 chance an American is a Republican, and a 1 in 3 chance they’re a Democrat). Some are random. Some are important. Most are fascinating. Did you know, for instance, that 1 in 21.8 boys born in 1950 were named Robert?
In their research, the authors stumbled across a few statistical coincidences — two scenarios for which the odds are the same.
Here, a selection of the book’s “odds couples.”
SOMEWHAT
1 in 4
- Odds a woman enjoys sex only somewhat
- Odds an employed adult is somewhat satisfied with his or her boss
1 in 16.7
- Odds a sexually active adult has sex every day
- Odds a state has recorded a temperature higher than 120 degrees in August
1 in 3.6
- Odds an adult uses the Internet before going to bed
1 in 3.7
- Odds an adult has sex before going to bed
1 in 12.5
- Odds an e-mail will contain pornography
- Odds an American lives in Texas
PRETTY DARN COMMON
1 in 1.1
- Odds a child 8-16 has ever viewed pornography online
- Odds a person is right handed
THE SHALLOW END
1 in 4.6
- Odds an unmarried adult looks mostly in physical appearance in potential dates
- Odds an adult 65 or older cannot swim
1 in 34.5
- Odds of meeting your partner on a blind date
- Odd a man has bipolar disorder
OWNING FIRST BASE
1 in 1.9
- Odds a woman kissed her partner on the first date
- Odds a baseball game is won by the home team
SCROOGES
1 in 33.3
- Odds a bride will intend to sign a prenup
- Odds an adult will spend less than $100 on Christmas gifts in a year
COMINGS AND GOINGS
1 in 20,250
- Odds a woman 50-54 will give birth in a year
1 in 20,140
- Odds a person will be murdered in a year
1 in 1.5
- Odds an employed female 15-44 who gave birth in the past five years took maternity leave
- Odds a child lives with two married parents
ALL BY MYSELF
1 in 20.9
- Odds an adult is an only child
- Odds a person 65-69 has never been married
Really Random Facts:
What are the odds you’re like Angelina Jolie?
- 1 in 500: The odds a woman 18-29 has adopted a child
- 1 in 4 vs. 1 in 3: Odds an adopted child is foreign born vs. native born
- 1 in 56.3: Odds a household with children contains both biological and adoptive children?
- 1 in 1,190,000: Odds of being a movie star
- 1 in 2,703: Odds a woman is named Angelina
- 1 in 1,003: Odds a boy born in 2009 is named Maddox
- 1 in 20: Odds a married man often thinks about leaving his wife
- 1 in 46.7: Odds a child lives with at least five siblings
- 1 in 86.1: Odds a dollar spent at the box office will be for a movie with Angelina Jolie
- 1 in 1.7: Odds a woman with the BRCA genetic mutation will develop breast cancer
THE WAITING GAME
1 in 43.2
- Odds a child under 18 has a parent in prison
- Odds that an adolescent boy on the waiting list for a kidney has been there for at least five years
1 in 4.5
- Odds a homeless person is under 18
- Odds an inmate on death row is married
Halfway to Kindergarten! HALFWAY TO MENSA?
1 in 25
- Odds a child 22-25 months will possess counting skills
1 in 50
- Odds a person will meet the requirements for Mensa
DARK DAYS
1 in 3.1
- Odds a student 12-18 will be bullied at school in a year
- Odds a February day in Washington, DC, will be rainy
TOO MANY EXTRACURRICULARS
1 in 6.4
- Odds a teenage boy, 15-19, has had sex with four or more females
- Odds an adult has less than a high school diploma
1 in 21,774
- Odds a death will include HIV on the certificate
1 in 22,355
- Odds a person will visit an emergency room from a golf cart accident
WHO TOOK THE LAST SLICE?
1 in 2.6
- Odds an adult has eaten cold pizza for breakfast
- Odds an adult usually skips breakfast
HEART ATTACKS
1 in 265
- Odds a person will die from an acute myocardial infarction in a year
1 in 270
- Odds an NFL kickoff will be returned for a touchdown
POSTSCRIPTS
1 in 1.5
- Odds an adult does not have a living will
- Odds an adult does not believe in ghosts
Slice of New York life
- 1 in 2,211,000,000: Odds of being fatally pushed in front of a subway train in a year.
- Odds a birth in New York will be Cesarean: 1 in 2.9
- Odds in New Jersey: 1 in 2.5 (tied for the most common with Louisiana)
- Odds a teen will give birth in New York state: 1 in 44.1 (That’s one of the lowest odds in the nation. In Arkansas, it’s 1 in 19.9)
- 4% of high school students in NYS drop out
- Percent of applicants who are accepted to . . . Harvard: 7%, Columbia: 11%, New York University: 38%
- 296: Average minutes waited in a New York emergency room, or nearly 5 hours. (That’s one of the longest waits in the nation.)
- Odds a person in New York gets the recommended amount of exercise in a week. Men: 51%, Women: 47%
- Obesity rate for the state: 25% 1 in 4 are obese. (In Louisiana, 1 in 3 are.)
- 1 in 13,918: Odds a New Yorker will commit suicide in a year. (That’s the lowest rate for any state.)
- What’s it take to get mentioned in the New York Times wedding announcements? An Ivy League education 16% of all announcements mention Columbia University, 49.2% of announcements included one Ivy
WATCH OUT, DAVID!
1 in 135
- Odds a person will die in a year
1 in 134
- Odds a male born in 2008 is named David
LOVE THOSE GREENS?
1 in 25
- Odds an adult is a vegetarian or vegan
- Odds an adult’s favorite sport is golf
1 in 1.4
- People who stay married because of companionship
- People who stay married because of deep love
1 in 16.1
- Odds an adult has ever met the definition of narcissistic personality disorder
- Odds that a divorced man is 30-34 years old
DOING DAMAGE
1 in 1.7
- Odds a man will experience a traumatic event during his life
- Odds an NFL pass will be a completion
1 in 1.1
- Odds an adult owns a Bible
- Odds an adult has never had revenge sex
1 in 5.6
- Odds that an adult agrees “creatures such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster will one day be discovered by science”
- Odds an adult will receive mental health services in a year
1 in 1.4
- Odds a woman is married by age 30
Odds are the same that . . .
- . . . a female high school grad will go to college within a year of graduation
- . . . an NBA team will score 90 points in a game
1 in 14.3
- Odds a woman does not enjoy sex at all
- Odds a woman never orgasms during sex
1 in 100
- Odds an adult showers less than once a week.
- An adult considers track and field to be his or her favorite sport