Tell me more ×
Skeptics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for scientific skepticism. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 11 down vote favorite

This is something I found on Tumblr:

Fact 61: men are 6 times more likely to be struck by lightning than women - tinyfacts tumblr

I also found this on Flickr (image license):

Did you know? Men are 6 times more likely to be struck by lightning than women

This image was posted to Reddit:

men are 6 times more likely to be struck by lightning than women

Does this claim have any scientific basis at all?

share|improve this question
6  
maybe men are 6 times more likely to be in a position to be struck by lightning – ratchet freak Mar 16 '12 at 17:54
3  
It doesn't sound unreasonable... Men are more likely (at least historically) to be outdoors doing outdoor activities than are women. – M. Werner Mar 16 '12 at 19:04
4  
Men are taller and play more golf? – Brian M. Hunt Mar 16 '12 at 20:55
2  
I tend to think that Brian Hunt is on to something, it's all about the golf – Monkey Tuesday Mar 16 '12 at 23:08
1  
But who's more likely to be struck by women: men or women? – SamtheBrand Mar 21 '12 at 16:37
show 3 more comments

1 Answer

up vote 7 down vote accepted

The numbers may not be right, but the tendency is.

The fact that men are more likely to be struck by lightning than women is backed up by several scientific studies. NASA backs this up but says that it is four times as many men as women. NOAA has a very detailed breakdown of lightning strikes:

In summary, males are killed 4.6 times as often as females, and are 5.3 times as likely as females to be injured.

All of these figures are for the US, of course.

share|improve this answer
1  
Incontrovertible? Where exactly? – Rory Alsop Mar 17 '12 at 0:02
So... why would that be? – nico Mar 17 '12 at 14:11
3  
The question didn't ask for a reason why, but I have heard that men are more likely to be playing golf and holding the club in the air makes a great lightning rod. One would have to look at the number of strikes of golfers vs the total strikes to see if it had a significant effect on the numbers. – pfyon Mar 18 '12 at 4:05
1  
lol and what would be the reason? Men are taller on average.. – Nils Mar 22 '12 at 11:23
@Nils: That bolt of electricity has already bridged several miles of air gap. Do few inches of height make so much of a difference? – Piskvor May 3 '12 at 19:08

protected by Sklivvz♦ Mar 21 '12 at 21:14

This question is protected to prevent "thanks!", "me too!", or spam answers by new users. To answer it, you must have earned at least 10 reputation on this site.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.