Dog Bite Statistics
Posted By Lanier Law Group on Jul 30, 2010 12:55pm PDT
During these summer months when so many people are out and about with man's best friend, fears about dog bites tend to increase. 74.8 million dogs live in the US today, so the occasional dog bite is bound to happen, but what are the actual statistics? Let's take a look:
A little less than two percent of the US population is bitten by a dog annually. That amounts to about 4.7 million people.
Of those bites, only about one in six is serious enough to require medical attention. That reduces the number of serious bites to about 800,000 annually.
About 368,000 people go to the emergency room each year due to a dog bite.
In 2001, a little fewer than 16,500 dog bites to people age 16 or older were work related.
On average, 2,581 postal carriers are bitten annually.
Of activities common among children, dog bites are the fifth most frequent reason for a trip to the emergency room.
Overall, an American has about a one in fifty chance of being bitten by a dog each year.
If you've had the misfortune of being seriously bit by another person's dog, now is the time to discuss your case with a North Carolina personal injury attorney. Contact our law office now!