Mapped: Top 100 Countries Hit by Earthquakes in 2024

Pallavi Rao
2025-04-06 15:46:00
www.visualcapitalist.com

Mapped: Top 100 Countries Hit by Earthquakes in 2024

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Most people have a fair idea of how tectonic plates work, and how their movement causes earthquakes.

But how does that impact countries in these seismic zones? We map data from Earthquakeslist.org, which ranks the top 100 countries hit by earthquakes in 2024.

Only earthquakes above a 4.0 magnitude and whose epicenters were within 300 km (186 miles) of the country were counted.

Ranked: Top 100 Countries Hit by Earthquakes in 2024

Mexico saw 1,971 earthquakes (with a magnitude above 4.0) in 2024, the most worldwide.

Ranked second, Indonesia witnessed 1,872 the same year. The strongest earthquake for both countries registered a 6.4 in magnitude.

Rank	Country	# of Earthquakes (2024)	Strongest Magnitude
1	Mexico	1,971	6.4
2	Indonesia	1,872	6.4
3	Japan	1,563	7.5
4	The Philippines	997	7.1
5	Chile	875	7.4
6	Guatemala	704	6.4
7	Taiwan	655	7.4
8	Papua New Guinea	637	6.9
9	Peru	624	5.8
10	China	591	7.0
11	Argentina	398	7.4
12	El Salvador	367	6.2
13	Kyrgyzstan	362	7.0
14	Afghanistan	313	6.4
15	Tonga	309	6.9
16	Tajikistan	309	6.4
17	Russia	292	7.0
18	Nicaragua	283	6.2
19	Vanuatu	273	7.3
20	Honduras	271	6.2
21	Kazakhstan	268	7.0
22	Pakistan	252	6.4
23	Timor-Leste	251	6.1
24	Costa Rica	241	6.2
25	India	207	5.7
26	Türkiye	205	6.0
27	Greece	205	5.8
28	Iran	198	5.4
29	Fiji	196	5.7
30	Bolivia	190	5.7
31	Guam	169	5.5
32	U.S.	168	7.0
33	Northern Mariana Islands	158	6.3
34	Panama	153	5.8
35	Uzbekistan	152	5.2
36	Colombia	137	5.6
37	Ethiopia	127	5.4
38	New Zealand	124	5.8
39	Ecuador	124	5.5
40	Samoa	112	5.7
41	Venezuela	105	6.0
42	Myanmar	89	5.7
43	Puerto Rico	73	5.6
44	Syria	67	6.0
45	American Samoa	67	5.4
46	Solomon Islands	64	5.8
47	Canada	63	5.7
48	Iraq	60	5.4
49	Dominican Republic	58	5.6
50	Bangladesh	57	4.9
51	Albania	56	5.4
52	Italy	55	5.4
53	Azerbaijan	54	4.9
54	North Macedonia	48	5.4
55	Bulgaria	44	5.2
56	Armenia	43	4.9
57	Libya	42	5.3
58	Georgia	42	4.9
59	Brazil	40	6.6
60	Nepal	38	5.0
61	Oman	37	5.0
62	Saint Martin	36	5.0
62	Anguilla	36	5.0
64	U.S. Virgin Islands	34	5.6
65	Saudi Arabia	34	4.9
66	Mongolia	33	5.0
67	Wallis and Futuna	32	5.5
68	British Virgin Islands	31	5.0
69	Christmas Island	30	5.2
70	UAE	30	5.1
71	Saint Barthelemy	30	5.0
72	Tanzania	28	5.0
73	Niue	26	5.6
74	Croatia	26	5.4
75	Turkmenistan	26	4.8
76	Grenada	24	6.0
77	Kuwait	24	4.9
78	Eritrea	23	5.4
79	Cyprus	23	4.9
80	Kosovo	22	5.4
81	Qatar	22	5.1
82	Montserrat	22	5.0
82	Malaysia	22	5.0
82	Saint Kitts and Nevis	22	5.0
85	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	22	4.9
86	Trinidad and Tobago	21	6.0
87	Bhutan	21	4.5
88	Montenegro	20	5.4
89	Guadeloupe	20	5.0
89	Antigua and Barbuda	20	5.0
89	Dominica	20	5.0
92	Haiti	19	5.9
93	Yemen	19	5.4
94	Cuba	18	6.8
95	Laos	18	5.1
95	Vietnam	18	5.1
97	Algeria	18	5.0
97	Svalbard and Jan Mayen	18	5.0
99	Romania	17	5.2
100	Bosnia and Herzegovina	16	5.4

Note: Rankings determined by stronger magnitude for countries with the same # of earthquakes. For matching magnitudes, rankings are tied.

Japan ranked third (1,563) but one of them was both the strongest and deadliest of the year. The Noto earthquake hit on New Year’s day, causing widespread damage and destruction and triggering a tsunami.

More than 500 people died, and it became Japan’s second-deadliest quake after the one in 2011.

These three countries are usually at the top of the rankings every year. And a quick glance at the map reveals why. All three are near convergent plate boundaries and this causes frequent earthquakes.

On the other hand, Sub-Saharan Africa is a notable blank spot on the map. This is because most of the region sits well-within the African plate, far from its boundaries to the north and west.

However, towards the east, the African plate is splitting, with the minor Somali plate moving away, causing earthquakes for Ethiopia and Tanzania.

Major Earthquakes in 2025

The 2025 Myanmar Earthquake is the deadliest of the year so far (7.7), killing more than 3,000 people.

It occurred along the Sagaing Fault, which is a transform boundary between the Indian plate and the Sunda plate. The epicenter was close to the country’s second-largest city and neighboring China and Thailand also felt the effects.

In terms of pure numbers, Indonesia has seen the most earthquakes so far in 2024, (511), with Mexico just behind (475).

Greece, Turkiye, and China round out the current top five.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

Want more insight on the 2024 Noto Earthquake? Creator Preyash visualized the epicenter on a map in their graphic, Tremors of Resilience: Japan, for a bird’s-eye view of the affected regions.

The post Mapped: Top 100 Countries Hit by Earthquakes in 2024 appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

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