PlainQuake

Global ranking · USGS ComCat

Countries with the Most Significant Earthquakes

Countries ranked by number of significant (M6+) earthquakes catalogued.

Indonesia
#1
323
M6+ events
50
ranked countries

The verdict

Indonesia leads with 323, ahead of Japan (229) and Papua New Guinea (212) across 50 ranked countries.

Indonesia
#1 - 323
#2 Japan
229
31%
share held by the top 3
50
countries ranked

Counts reflect both real seismicity and monitoring density; read alongside population exposure for risk.

Top 12 countries by m6+ events

Countries ranked by number of significant (M6+) earthquakes catalogued.

Value

What this shows Significant (M6+) earthquakes are the ones that cause real damage. Countries topping this list combine high seismic activity with proximity to subduction zones. The count reflects how often a country faces genuinely dangerous shaking, not just how many small tremors it records.

Source USGS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat) As of 2025

Full ranking

M6+ events for all 50 ranked countries. Select any entry for its full seismic profile.

# Country M6+ events
1 Indonesia 323
2 Japan 229
3 Papua New Guinea 212
4 Chile 160
5 United States 159
6 Vanuatu 146
7 Philippines 132
8 Russia 122
9 Tonga 116
10 Solomon Islands 102
11 Mexico 70
12 New Zealand 70
13 Peru 55
14 Argentina 42
15 Japan region 41
16 New Caledonia 34
17 Taiwan 31
18 China 31
19 Fiji 30
20 Greece 28
21 Panama 27
22 Canada 24
23 Iran 24
24 Afghanistan 23
25 Timor Leste 23
26 Ecuador 21
27 Guatemala 16
28 Colombia 14
29 Turkey 14
30 India 14
31 India region 14
32 Wallis and Futuna 12
33 Micronesia 11
34 El Salvador 11
35 Nicaragua 10
36 Pakistan 8
37 Nepal 8
38 Venezuela 8
39 Myanmar 7
40 Costa Rica 7
41 Tajikistan 7
42 Bolivia 7
43 Italy 7
44 New Zealand region 7
45 Brazil 7
46 Svalbard and Jan Mayen 6
47 Alaska Earthquake 5
48 Yemen 4
49 Portugal 3
50 Kyrgyzstan 3

Source: USGS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat).

Frequently asked questions

What makes an earthquake significant here? ▼

On PlainQuake, "significant" means magnitude 6.0 and above, the threshold at which structural damage becomes likely in populated areas.

Why do some countries with fewer total earthquakes rank high here? ▼

Because this counts only the damaging M6+ band. A country can record many small tremors but few large ones, or vice-versa, depending on its tectonic setting.

Other rankings

Most quakes, countriesMost quakes, U.S. statesStrongest, countriesStrongest, U.S. statesHighest avg magnitude
All countries
Earthquake data by country
All U.S. states
Earthquake data by state
Significant events
Major M6+ earthquakes worldwide

About this data

These rankings are computed directly from the USGS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat), the public-domain record maintained by the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program. Count-based leaderboards use the worldwide catalog of magnitude-4.0-and-above events from 2005 onward, the period over which the global seismograph network reliably detects and locates earthquakes everywhere, while magnitude leaderboards use the significant-event series of magnitude-6.0-and-above earthquakes stretching back to 1900. Magnitudes use the moment-magnitude scale (Mw), the modern standard that supersedes the older Richter scale; because the scale is logarithmic, each whole step up represents roughly thirty-two times more energy released. Remember that raw counts partly measure monitoring density, not only underlying seismicity, and that one historic outlier can anchor a high maximum magnitude, read each leaderboard alongside population exposure and building stock before drawing conclusions about real-world risk.

Source: USGS ComCat, verify with USGS → · See our methodology for the full pipeline.