Earthquake Facts and Statistics

Frequency of Occurrence of Earthquakes

Magnitude	Average Annually
8 and higher	1 ¹
7 - 7.9	17 ²
6 - 6.9	134 ²
5 - 5.9	1319 ²
4 - 4.9	13,000 (estimated)
3 - 3.9	130,000 (estimated)
2 - 2.9	1,300,000 (estimated)
¹ Based on observations since 1900. ² Based on observations since 1990.

Magnitude vs. Ground Motion and Energy

Magnitude Change	Ground Motion Change (Displacement)	Energy Change
1.0	10.0 times	about 32 times
0.5	3.2 times	about 5.5 times
0.3	2.0 times	about 3 times
0.1	1.3 times	about 1.4 times

This table shows that a magnitude 7.2 earthquake produces 10 times more ground motion than a magnitude 6.2 earthquake, but it releases about 32 times more energy. The energy release best indicates the destructive power of an earthquake. See: How much bigger is a magnitude 8.7 earthquake than a magnitude 5.8 earthquake?

The USGS estimates that several million earthquakes occur in the world each year. Many go undetected because they hit remote areas or have very small magnitudes. The NEIC now locates about 50 earthquakes each day, or about 20,000 a year.

As more and more seismographs are installed in the world, more earthquakes can be and have been located. However, the number of large earthquakes (magnitude 6.0 and greater) have stayed relatively constant. See: Are Earthquakes Really on the Increase?

Magnitude	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Number of Earthquakes Worldwide for 2000 - 2007 Located by the US Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center

8.0 to 9.9	1	1	0	1	2	1	1	2
7.0 to 7.9	14	15	13	14	14	10	10	2
6.0 to 6.9	158	126	130	140	141	140	132	93
5.0 to 5.9	1345	1243	1218	1203	1515	1693	1483	866
4.0 to 4.9	8045	8084	8584	8462	10888	13917	13069	6501
3.0 to 3.9	4784	6151	7005	7624	7932	9191	9953	4854
2.0 to 2.9	3758	4162	6419	7727	6316	4636	4016	1767
1.0 to 1.9	1026	944	1137	2506	1344	26	19	25
0.1 to 0.9	5	1	10	134	103	0	2	0
No Magnitude	3120	2938	2937	3608	2939	864	849	1014

Total	22256	23534	27454	31419	31194	* 30478	* 29534	* 15124

Estimated Deaths	231	21357	1685	33819	284010	82364	6605	148

Magnitude	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Number of Earthquakes in the United States for 2000 - 2007 Located by the US Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center

8.0 to 9.9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
7.0 to 7.9	0	1	1	2	0	1	0	0
6.0 to 6.9	10	5	5	7	2	4	6	3
5.0 to 5.9	60	45	70	54	25	47	48	16
4.0 to 4.9	287	294	538	541	284	345	349	168
3.0 to 3.9	913	834	1525	1303	1362	1475	1188	502
2.0 to 2.9	657	646	1228	704	1336	1738	1131	543
1.0 to 1.9	0	2	2	2	1	2	7	4
0.1 to 0.9	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
No Magnitude	415	434	507	333	540	73	18	10

Total	2342	2261	3876	2946	3550	* 3685	* 2748	* 1246

Estimated Deaths	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0

* As of 30 July 2007

Earthquake Information for the 1990s

Graphs of Earthquake Statistics

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U.S. Department of the Interior \| U.S. Geological Survey URL: http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eqlists/eqstats.html Contact: NEIC Web Team Last modification: Wednesday, January 10 2007 11:55 MST