Average Loss of Life Expectancy (LLE)

Activity, risk, or state and associated LLE in days 

Being male 				2800

Heart disease				2100

Being unmarried				2000

Being black (as compared to white)	2000

Smoking cigarettes (1 pack/day)		1600

Coal Mining				1100

Cancer					980

30 lb overweight			900

Grade school dropout			800

Being poor				700

Stroke					520

15 lb overweight			450

All accidents				435

Vietnam army duty			400

Living in southeastern U.S. 		350

Construction worker (accidents)		320

Driving a car (risk of accidents)	200

Pneumonia and influenza			130

Alcohol					130

Suicide					95

Homicide				90

Occupational Accidents			74

Small cars (vs standard size)		50

Drowning				40

Raising speed limit, 55 to 65 mph	40

Falls					39

Poison + suffocation + asphyxiation	37

Fire, burns				27

Radiation worker entire adult life	12

Firearms				11

Diet drinks, one per day for life	2

All electric power nuclear (UCS)	1.5

Hurricanes and tornadoes		1

Airline crashes				1

Hydroelectric power (dam failures)	0.5

Lifetime at nuclear power plant 	0.4

All electric power nuclear (NRC)	0.03

Source

The table should be interpreted to mean that the activity listed lowers, on average, the U.S. life expectancy by the stated number of days or that engaging in the listed activity lowers your life expectancy by the given number of days. For example, the presence of suicide in the U.S. lowers the average life expectancy by 95 days. Being a grade school dropout, on average, lowers a person's life expectancy by 800 days.

Note that both the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the anti-nuclear organization Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) both estimate the risk from nuclear power to be much lower than many other activities in our lives. Compare the risk estimates for nuclear power to that given for hydroelectric power!

Click here to return to the UT-ANS homepage.