Earthquakes of Magnitude 7 or Greater per Year 2000-2025
Key Findings
📈
From 2000 to 2025, Number of magnitude 7.0+ earthquakes worldwide moved from 15 to 16 (+6.7%).
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The highest value in Number of magnitude 7.0+ earthquakes worldwide came in 2010: 24.
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The lowest was 2017 at 7.
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The sharpest single-year move was 2017 → 2018: +142.9% (7 → 17).
About This Dataset
Earthquakes of Magnitude 7 or Greater per Year 2000-2025
What this chart shows: the number of earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or greater recorded worldwide in each year from 2000 to 2025, counted from the U.S. Geological Survey's catalogue.
How the data is collected: the counts come from a search of the ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat) for events of magnitude 7.0 or more between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2025, grouped by year in UTC. Only events classified as earthquakes are counted, using the magnitude USGS considers official for each.
Background: ComCat is a combined catalogue: each event lists the seismic networks that contributed to it, and a status showing whether it was posted automatically or reviewed by a human. All 387 of the 387 earthquakes counted here have the status "reviewed".
Limits: an earthquake at magnitude 6.9 is not counted even though it is almost the same size as a 7.0, so small changes in magnitude estimates can move events in or out of a year's count. Aftershocks are counted as separate events. The catalogue can be revised; these counts reflect it as of September 2026.
How the data is collected: the counts come from a search of the ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat) for events of magnitude 7.0 or more between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2025, grouped by year in UTC. Only events classified as earthquakes are counted, using the magnitude USGS considers official for each.
Background: ComCat is a combined catalogue: each event lists the seismic networks that contributed to it, and a status showing whether it was posted automatically or reviewed by a human. All 387 of the 387 earthquakes counted here have the status "reviewed".
Limits: an earthquake at magnitude 6.9 is not counted even though it is almost the same size as a 7.0, so small changes in magnitude estimates can move events in or out of a year's count. Aftershocks are counted as separate events. The catalogue can be revised; these counts reflect it as of September 2026.
Analysis
There were 387 earthquakes of magnitude 7 or greater between 2000 and 2025, an average of 14.9 a year. The busiest year was 2010, with 24, and the quietest was 2017, with 7. 2025 had 16, above the 26-year average and up from 10 in 2024. 7 years reached 18 or more (2007, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2021, 2023), while 4 had 10 or fewer (2017, 2019, 2020, 2024).
Data Insights
Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart
Methodology & source
- Data source
- U.S. Geological Survey, ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat)
- Coverage
- 26 entities · 2000-2025 · 26 observations
- Measure
- Number of magnitude 7.0+ earthquakes worldwide
- Last updated
- 16 September 2026
- Compiled by
- The ANYSTAT team, from the source above
How the figures are calculated
- Values use the measure and unit named on this page. Consult the dataset description and cited source for coverage, definitions and any unit conversions. Displayed values may be rounded for readability.
- Entities are ranked highest-first on their value.
An article using this data
The Biggest Earthquake of 2025 Was Magnitude 8.8. It Was Not the Most Significant.
USGS ranks earthquakes three different ways: by magnitude, by a significance score that includes impact, and by how many people report feeling them. For 2025 th...
Data Sources & References
All external sources cited in this dataset
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