Every sport has its own risk of injury, some more so than others do. A compilation of the top ten sport related injuries relative to the number of injuries to the population of the country has been constructed and tabulated as a percentage. The data has been gathered and analysed based on official national statistics and estimates up until 2010.
Football: Statistically the most dangerous sport you can play with a ball
10. United Kingdom: 0.373%
Grasping the knee and rolling on the ground in apparent agony is a common sight in a football (soccer) match. As it turns out, some of those feigning in the hope of a penalty, might actually be genuine cases of injuries. Although, football is the most popular sport played in the UK, other sports also add to the list of related injuries in the country to bring the grand total to 0.373% of the population being injured annually.
9. Indonesia: 0.382%
Still staying with the most popular sport in the world, Indonesia comes in at number nine with 0.382% of the population developing injuries. Majority of these injuries are related to football, however a significant portion are caused by other major sports like basketball and cricket.
8. Germany: 0.388%
The winner of FIFA 2014 world cup has the most predictable cause of sport’s injuries; football. Since the data for these statistics were last taken in 2010, it is almost certain that owing to their recent win, football fever has claimed more than its usual share of victims. Of course other sports have contributed to the 0.388% of the population being injured by partaking in sports, but the main culprit is still their pride and job; the FIFA cup.
7. Brazil: 0.412%
There can’t be a list of (mostly) football injuries without including Brazil. The FIFA 2014 hosts have come in at number seven of the most sports related injuries with 0.412% of their population. For a country that eats, breathes, and sleeps football, it’s surprisingly low.
6. Pakistan: 0.429%
The first country to make the list for not having majority of sports injuries at the hands of football is Pakistan; the makers of the FIFA 2014 footballs. Here, cricket is the major cause of sports injuries, followed by field hockey, wrestling and of course, football.
Played by nearly a quarter of the world’s population: Cricket has a huge fan base
5. India: 0.431%
Coming in closely behind Pakistan is another cricket-mad country and the expected cricket-related injuries. At 0.431% of the population developing injuries in the world’s second most populous country, merely cricket can’t be the only sport to blame. Field hockey, football, and wrestling also add to the list of sport injuries.
4. Australia: 0.436%
The winner of the most ICC World Cups makes cricket the most popular sport and also a major injury causing sport in Australia. However, other sports like rugby, football, basketball, tennis, and boxing contribute heavily to cause injury to 0.436% of the population annually.
3. Russia: 0.452%
Bringing up the first of the bottom three countries in the list is Russia. With a sports injury rate of 0.4525 of the population, there can be only one main culprit; football. Being highly competitive in international sporting events, Russia has athletes from a number of different fields practicing and developing injuries. The most common sport injuries, apart from football, are caused by swimming, boxing, wrestling, basketball, volleyball, and badminton.
2. USA: 0.456%
Among the number of sports that are played in the USA, American Football takes the lion’s share of popularity along with the source of the most sports-related injuries. With 0.456% of the population being injured every year, sports-people all over the US develop injuries in other sports as well like baseball, badminton, tennis, basketball, swimming, wrestling, volleyball, boxing and for once, not many of the these injuries can be traced back to football.
A game dominated by brute force: Rugby and American football are still the cause of fewer injuries than football
1. China: 0.513%
Taking the top spot on this list is also the most populous country in the world. With an annual sports related injury rate or 0.513% of the population, it is interesting to find that these injuries are not stacked up against a single sport. It is, on the contrary, an accumulation of a number of sports causing moderate levels of injuries. When added up, these moderate injury numbers add up to be the highest level in the world relative to population. The most popular sport in China; Table Tennis, does not cause a significant portion of the injuries. Other sports like basketball, badminton, swimming, diving, and football all contribute more or less equally to the final tally.
