Relative Risk Calculator

Compare the risk of an outcome between an exposed and unexposed group. Enter the four counts from your 2x2 table.

Relative risk
2
1.149 to 3.482
95% CI
Calculated in your browser.

Built into PaperSurvey.io

Skip the copy-paste. Scan your paper or web surveys and PaperSurvey computes these metrics automatically on your real data, ready to export to Excel, SPSS and R. See how

Start a free trial →

Relative risk vs odds ratio

Relative risk is the probability of the outcome in the exposed group divided by the probability in the unexposed group. A value of 1 means no difference, above 1 means higher risk with exposure and below 1 means lower risk. It is more intuitive than the odds ratio, which compares odds rather than probabilities, though the two agree closely when the outcome is rare.

How the counts map

Enter exposed-with-outcome, exposed-without-outcome, unexposed-with-outcome and unexposed-without-outcome. If any cell is zero, a Haldane-Anscombe correction of 0.5 is added to every cell so the ratio and its confidence interval stay defined. A 95% interval that excludes 1 points to a statistically significant association.

Frequently asked questions

Should I report relative risk or the odds ratio?

For cohort and experimental data where you can measure risk directly, relative risk is usually the clearer choice. Case-control studies typically report the odds ratio instead.

Embed this calculator on your site

Free to use. Paste this snippet wherever you want the calculator to appear.


Get Started with PaperSurvey.io Software

Get Started

Start your 14-day free trial now, no credit card required.