How safe is climbing? pretty good. Don't believe me, read on. Just remember that this is like comparing apples to bananas. At least they are both fruit.
Baby Boomers
http://www.cpsc.gov/LIBRARY/boomer.pdf (April 2000 study)
There were roughly 76 million baby boomers in the states in 2000. Here is the breakdown of hospital visits for the 16 most popular sports.
| Estimated Number of Injuries | Sport and Type of Injury | |
|---|---|---|
| # Reported | % of Pop. | |
| 529,837 | 0.697% | Basketball - Cut hands, sprained ankles, broken legs, eye and forehead injuries. |
| 490,434 | 0.645% | Bicycling - Feet caught in spokes, head injuries from falls, slipping while carrying bicycles, collisions with cars. |
| 460,210 | 0.606% | Football - Fractured wrists, chipped teeth, neck strains, head lacerations, dislocated hips and jammed fingers. |
| 275,123 | 0.362% | ATVs, Mopeds, Minibikes - Riders of ATVs were frequently injured when they were thrown from vehicles. There were also fractured wrists, dislocated hands, shoulder sprains, head cuts and lumbar strains. |
| 274,867 | 0.362% | Baseball, Softball - Head injuries from bats and balls. Ankle injuries from running bases or sliding into them. |
| 269,249 | 0.354% | Exercise, Exercise Equipment - Twisted ankles and cut chins from tripping on treadmills. Head injuries from falling backward from exercise balls, ankle sprains from jumping rope. |
| 186,544 | 0.245% | Soccer - Twisted ankles or knees after falls, fractured arms during games. |
| 164,607 | 0.217% | Swimming - Head injuries from hitting the bottom of pools, and leg injuries from accidentally falling into pools. |
| 96,119 | 0.126% | Skiing, Snowboarding - Head injuries from falling, cut legs and faces, sprained knees or shoulders. |
| 85,580 | 0.113% | Lacrosse, Rugby, & other Ball Games - Head and facial cuts from getting hit by balls and sticks, injured ankles from falls. |
Kids
http://www.yalemedicalgroup.org/stw/Page.asp?PageID=STW026065 (2009 study)
There are roughly 30 million kids 14 and under in organised sports in the states. Here is the breakdown of hospital visits for the 11 most popular sports.
| Estimated Number of Injuries | Sport and Type of Injury | |
|---|---|---|
| # Reported | % of Pop. | |
| 215,000 | 0.717% | Football |
| 200,000 | 0.667% | Bicycling |
| 170,000 | 0.567% | Basketball |
| 110,000 | 0.367% | Baseball, Softball |
| 88,000 | 0.293% | Soccer |
| 66,000 | 0.220% | Skateboarding |
| 65,000 | 0.217% | Trampolines |
| 47,000 | 0.157% | In-line, roller skating |
| 25,000 | 0.083% | Skiing, snowboarding |
| 20,000 | 0.067% | Hockey |
| 16,000 | 0.053% | Sledding, tobogganing |
Climbing
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090721122848.htm (2009 article)
Rather annoying for this post, this study published their numbers as a total over 17 years. The best I can do for you is divide the 40,000 by 17 to give a per year rate, and then average the stated 'roughly 2 million' and 'roughly 9 million' people climbing.
40,000 / 17 = 2353 injuries per year
2352 / 6.5 million = 0.036%
So safer than pretty much any other activity...BUUUUT 58% of the injuries were fractures, sprains, and strains, as in crutches for at least a month. So lower possibility, higher consequences.
UK Sporting Deaths
http://www.hse.gov.uk/education/statistics.htm (2009 article)
This study compares the chances of injury or death based on the number of times you do something.
| Activity | Chance of Injury | Chance of Death |
|---|---|---|
| Fairground Rides | 1 in 2,326,000 rides | 1 in 834,000,000 rides |
| Aircraft Accidents | ? | 1 in 125,000,000 passenger journeys |
| Rail Accidents | 1 in 1,533,000 passenger journeys | 1 in 43,000,000 passenger journeys |
| Canoeing | ? | 1 in 750,000 outings |
| Rock Climbing | ? | 1 in 320,000 climbs |
| Scuba Diving | ? | 1 in 200,000 dives |
| Surgical anaesthesia | ? | 1 in 185,000 operations |
| Hang-gliding | ? | 1 in 116,000 flights |
| Road Accidents | 1 in 1,432,000 kilometres travelled | 1 in 16,800 people |
| Maternal death in pregnancy | ? | 1 in 8,200 maternities |
| Burns or scalds in the house | 1 in 610 people | ? |
Conclusion
I'll just quote the first climbing article and you can face palm along with me:
'We found that the climbers who fell from heights higher than 20 feet accounted for 70 percent of the patients that were hospitalized for a rock climbing-related injury'
Solution: USE A FREAKING ROPE!!!