Global ranking · USGS ComCat

Countries with the Most Significant Earthquakes

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

Compiled by PlainQuake, Earthquake Data Editorial Process · July 19, 2026

Indonesia
#1: 323
M6+ events: 50
ranked countries

The verdict

Indonesia leads with 323, ahead of Japan (273) and Papua New Guinea (213) across 50 ranked countries.

#2 Japan
273: #3 Papua New Guinea
213: 32%
share held by the top 3: #50 Guadeloupe
2 (the list cutoff)

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

Indonesia

323
Japan

273
Papua New Guinea

213
United States

168
Chile

161
Vanuatu

146
Philippines

134
Russia

127
Tonga

116
Solomon Islands

102
New Zealand

78
Mexico

74

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.

Full ranking

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

Bar length shows each row's value as a share of the #1 entry; hover or tap a bar for its exact share and rank.

#	Country	M6+ events
1	Indonesia	323
2	Japan	273
3	Papua New Guinea	213
4	United States	168
5	Chile	161
6	Vanuatu	146
7	Philippines	134
8	Russia	127
9	Tonga	116
10	Solomon Islands	102
11	New Zealand	78
12	Mexico	74
13	Peru	55
14	Argentina	42
15	New Caledonia	34
16	Taiwan	32
17	China	31
18	Fiji	30
19	Greece	28
20	India	28
21	Panama	27
22	Canada	24
23	Iran	24
24	Afghanistan	23
25	Timor Leste	23
26	Ecuador	21
27	Turkey	16
28	Guatemala	16
29	Colombia	14
30	Wallis and Futuna	12
31	Micronesia	11
32	El Salvador	11
33	Nicaragua	10
34	Myanmar	8
35	Pakistan	8
36	Nepal	8
37	Venezuela	8
38	Costa Rica	7
39	Tajikistan	7
40	Bolivia	7
41	Italy	7
42	Brazil	7
43	Svalbard and Jan Mayen	6
44	Yemen	4
45	Portugal	3
46	Kyrgyzstan	3
47	Honduras	3
48	Antigua and Barbuda	3
49	Haiti	3
50	Guadeloupe	2

Source: USGS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat).

What this country ranking means

Indonesia's count is 162x higher than #50-ranked Guadeloupe (2).

See Indonesia's full earthquake history, magnitude and depth profile, and yearly trend. Open Indonesia's page
Raw counts partly reflect monitoring density - see which countries have recorded the STRONGEST individual earthquakes. See the complementary ranking

Figures reflect the USGS ComCat catalog (M4+ since 2005, M6+ significant events since 1900) and depend partly on regional monitoring density - not a real-time hazard assessment.

How to read this ranking

A high count on this leaderboard reflects two things at once: real tectonic activity AND how well that country is monitored. Densely instrumented regions detect far more small earthquakes than remote or sparsely monitored ones of similar underlying seismicity, so raw rank is a starting point for research, not a finished risk assessment.

Total event count also says nothing about population exposure. A country with a huge count but a small, dispersed population can carry less real-world risk than one lower on this list with dense cities sitting directly on an active fault. Cross-check any entry that matters to you against its own seismic profile page, which breaks down magnitude distribution, depth, and the strongest events on record.

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, countries Most quakes, U.S. states Strongest, countries Strongest, U.S. states Highest 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.

According to the US Geological Survey Earthquake Hazards Program, PlainQuake's figures are rendered directly from 315,341 recorded M4+ earthquakes and 14,428 significant M6+ events (USGS ComCat, 2005-present) -- no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-07-19.