Is skydiving dangerous?

While jumping out of a plane may seem like a terrifying act, skydiving is a relatively safe sport for those that take the proper precautions. In 2013, there were 24 fatalities across 3.2 million jumps, meaning skydivers had a less than 1 in 100,000 chance of dying.

To put the risks of skydiving in perspective, simply driving a car is 24 times more likely to result in a fatality than a single skydiving jump. BASE jumping, on the other hand, is much more dangerous. Because it involves leaping from a lower height and falling in close proximity to a building or other object, BASE jumps are approximately 43 times more likely to result in a fatality than an airplane jump.