What Are The Odds

What Are The Odds?

When a purchase or referral is made from an advertisement on this website a commission or referral payment is made to Lorelei Cohen.

So How Rare Are You?

Our distinctive looks, personality, and intelligence are what separate us from the rest of the world's population. These factors display our individuality but also our similarity to one another. So exactly how rare a person are you?

We often think of left handed individuals as being exceptionally rare but the odds are pretty decent that you could be a person born with this trait. Surprisingly one in every 10 people are left handed.

People born with webbed toes are much rarer. Only 1 in about every 2500 people is born with this unusual trait. We all start out in the womb with webbed digits but as our development proceeds our digits separate to create our fingers and toes but some folks don't. This is most often caused by ones unique genetic code.

When it comes to eyes the rarest color you will find of these is green. Those who have this distinct trait are indeed rare, only 2% of the world's population are born with green eyes. It is interesting to note that less than 1% of people have two different coloured eyes each distinctly individual of one another.

Men now live to an average age of 84 while women live to about age 86. We have about a 1 in 3 chance of developing cancer in our lifetime. In the United States there is about a 1 in 1500 chance that you will suffer from a rare disease. Are you one of the lucky ones who don't?

Your Odds of Marrying Are Good
But the Odds for a Divorce Are Also Good

If you are single the odds are in your favour that the person you are dating is a millionaire. Happily there is a one in 216 chance that you are currently dating, or will date, a millionaire.

Despite the rumors you may have heard about women over 40 not being able to find a mate actual spinsters are a rarity. People are waiting longer to marry but about 90% of us will marry at some point in our lifetime.

Odds are that about 40% of these marriages will end in divorce (give or take a few percentage points). You are also more likely to divorce if you had previously been married. It seems this is one thing that is statistically proven to get easier with practice.

What Are the Odds for Having Twins or Triplets?

Wondering what the odds are of having twins, triplets, quadruplets, or quintuplets? The statistics fluctuate on this but are largely influenced by fertility advancements, the country you live in, aging populations, number of new immigrants, and other external factors.

In the U.S. twins occur in about 3 of every 100 births or about 3% of the time. Triples occur in about 1 in 1000 births or about .1% of the time. In Canada twins occur in about 1 in every 82 births or at about 2 percent of all births. Triples occur in about .1% of all births. In the UK twins occur in about 1.5 of every 100 births or in about 1.5% of births. Triplets or other multiple births occur at a rate of about .02%.

There are a number of factors that will increase your chance of conceiving multiple babies so take heed.

1. Fertility drugs will greatly increase your likelihood of a multiple birth.
2. If the mother has a history of multiple births in the families than her odds of experiencing it will also increase.
3. African women are the most likely to conceive multiple births.
It is important to note that children born in a multiple birth face a 5 to 8 percent greater chance of dying within the first year of life.

Do You Enjoy a Good Game of Cards

If it seems that the deck is stacked against your getting the perfect card hand well rest assured that it most certainly is. It doesn't mean that you won't experience the thrill of receiving one it just means that you will have to be patient in your quest for that elusive wins.

The odds of being dealt a perfect 29 crib hand in a two person game is 1 in 216,580 while the odds of being dealt this beauty in a four person card game is 649,740. Fortunately the odds increase significantly when it comes to receiving a 28 point hand. Expect one to show up about once in every 15,028 hands.

If BlackJack is your game then the odds of receiving a 21 hand are much better. You can expect this winning hand to show up about 4.83% of the time or once in about every 21 hands.

Do you enjoy a good game of dice instead? In Yahtzee that elusive 5 of a kind comes with a 3.43% probability of your rolling one in your turn. The odds reduce to .08% for you to get a Yahtzee with one roll of the dice.

Odds of Finding a Four Leaf Clover

For those folk who believe in the luck of horseshoes and four leaf clovers know that you are not alone in your beliefs. Most of us subconsciously hold out hope that accidentally stumbling onto one of these treasures will increase our good fortune.

Your odds of finding one are pretty slim. There is about one 4 leaf clover in every 10,000 but don't despair. One of the reasons a 4 leaf clover is regarded as lucky is the wealth of nutrition it offers to one's livestock. Thus merely having clover on your property was a symbol of good fortune indeed. The shamrock was also purported to be the plant Saint Patrick used to explain the Holy Trinity to his flock so to find a 4 leaved version would have been of some significance indeed.

Should you find a lucky talisman it is important to note that your superstitious nature could indeed bring you a little bit of additional luck. Psychologically speaking, simply feeling luckier can increase your odds of being lucky. A positive optimistic attitude can accomplish far more than a negative pessimistic one can.

How Rare Is a Blue Moon?

We use the phrase once in a blue moon to show the rarity of an event but have you ever wondered exactly how scarce they are? Blue moons are indeed somewhat rare when taken into the context of how often our moon traditionally displays itself, but there really is nothing truly unusual about this extra moon other than the time that it shows up.

We generally experience 12 moons per year or about one per month but every 2 to 3 years an extra moon works its way into this cycle. No, its not blue. It is this moons appearance at an irregular time that has gifted it its name. Call it an early astrological miscalculation or a simple pattern of how the planets work but this extra moon is the one we refer to as the blue moon.

Lucky Rabbit Foot Shotglass by the Fantasy Folklore and Fairytale Magic Store

Odds of Being Struck by Something Falling From the Sky

Gravity insures that things fall when there is nothing to keep them afloat, it happens but fortunately these events are pretty rare. Your odds of being struck by lightening are about 1 in 700,000 while your odds of being struck by a meteorite are about 1 in 1,600,000.

Odds of a plane crash are about 1 in 11 million so it is pretty rare that someone on the ground is hit by one as it falls from the sky. It does happen though so keep an eye on the heavens. You just never know when one of these unexpected events could head your direction. While we are on the subject of falling objects here's one more. Your odds of being killed by a falling coconut are calculated out at 1 in 250,000,000 (and yes, although a rare event, it does happen).