The Insurance Buying Guide: The Odds of Becoming Disabled
If you're like most people, you think it won't happen to you. But it could. In fact, a person is more likely to become disabled than to die at almost any age.
The chart on the following page, shows that the risk of becoming disabled during peak earning years is substantial -- especially for people age 50 and younger. And as you get older, the duration of the average disability increases -- as do the chances that you will never totally recover.
By the time you're 50, if you've got a disability that has lasted more than 90 days, odds are it will take you more than six years to recover. For most people, who work for a living, this kind of downtime is catastrophic.
The Probability of Disability Compared to Death at Specific Ages
| Age | Number per 1,000 Disabled | Number per 1,000 Dying | Probability of Disability Compared to Death |
| 32 | 6.87 | 1.74 | 4 to 1 |
| 37 | 7.75 | 2.27 | 3.5 to 1 |
| 42 | 9.46 | 3.39 | 2.8 to 1 |
| 47 | 12.00 | 5.00 | 2.4 to 1 |
| 52 | 15.78 | 7.36 | 2 to 1 |
Source: Commissioner's Individual Disability Table and Commissioner's Standard Ordinary Mortality Table
