How many major earthquakes happen each year?

The world has had about 13 earthquakes of magnitude 7 or more a year since 1900, with no lasting rise: as few as 4 in 1930 and as many as 24 in 2010, and 16 in 2025. Quakes this strong are recorded wherever they strike, so even early counts are fairly complete; magnitudes before the 1960s are scientists' later estimates from old seismograms.

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Key facts

Measure: Earthquakes of magnitude 7 or more. Written from the data below.

  • The latest figure, for 2025, is 16.
  • That is up 23% from 13 in 1900.
  • The highest was 24 in 2010.
  • The lowest was 4 in 1930.

Source and date

Source
U.S. Geological Survey, ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat)
License
Public domain (U.S. government work); source U.S. Geological Survey
Data as of
Published

Citation

Chartly. “How many major earthquakes happen each year?” Chart. Data: U.S. Geological Survey, ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat), https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/search/ (data as of December 31, 2025). https://chart.ly/charts/major-earthquakes-per-year (accessed October 15, 2026).

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The data

Download data (CSV)

The file has the numbers in this table, with the source, license and date. Please credit the source and Chartly.

Year Earthquakes of magnitude 7 or more
1900 13
1901 15
1902 10
1903 9
1904 13
1905 21
1906 22
1907 18
1908 11
1909 16
1910 17
1911 14
1912 11
1913 11
1914 16
1915 10
1916 15
1917 15
1918 12
1919 11
1920 7
1921 8
1922 6
1923 15
1924 8
1925 10
1926 9
1927 12
1928 18
1929 14
1930 4
1931 17
1932 6
1933 8
1934 12
1935 13
1936 9
1937 9
1938 23
1939 14
1940 8
1941 11
1942 13
1943 17
1944 12
1945 7
1946 12
1947 15
1948 12
1949 12
1950 13
1951 8
1952 6
1953 9
1954 6
1955 9
1956 5
1957 19
1958 7
1959 6
1960 13
1961 11
1962 9
1963 17
1964 7
1965 15
1966 9
1967 10
1968 20
1969 15
1970 17
1971 11
1972 15
1973 9
1974 11
1975 13
1976 14
1977 11
1978 12
1979 8
1980 6
1981 10
1982 8
1983 14
1984 14
1985 15
1986 11
1987 13
1988 11
1989 8
1990 18
1991 17
1992 13
1993 12
1994 13
1995 20
1996 15
1997 16
1998 12
1999 18
2000 15
2001 15
2002 13
2003 15
2004 16
2005 11
2006 11
2007 18
2008 12
2009 17
2010 24
2011 20
2012 16
2013 19
2014 12
2015 19
2016 16
2017 7
2018 17
2019 10
2020 9
2021 19
2022 11
2023 19
2024 10
2025 16

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