The study, which was led by researchers from the University of Padua in Italy and the University of Duke in the US, suggests deadly diseases are becoming more frequent and the next could strike in less than 60 years.
The scientists calculated the chances of a Covid-scale pandemic occurring.
Quite worryingly, they found someone born in the year 2000 has a 38 percent chance of experiencing a pandemic by now.
And the probability of a pandemic on a similar scale occurring in a year is about two percent – a figure the researchers believe is growing.
William Pan, the study’s author and associate professor of global environmental health at Duke, said: “The most important takeaway is that large pandemics like COVID-19 and the Spanish Flu are relatively likely.”