how common are earthquakes

Earthquakes are very common: thousands happen every day worldwide, but most are too small to feel. A typical estimate is about 12,000–14,000 located each year, while some sources put the global total closer to 20,000 a year, depending on how small quakes are counted and detected.

How common they are

• Small quakes happen constantly somewhere on Earth.

• Magnitude 2 quakes can occur several hundred times a day, while larger quakes are much rarer.

• Major earthquakes happen about once a year on average worldwide.

What that means

Most earthquakes do not cause damage because they are too weak or happen in remote areas. The ones people notice tend to be the stronger, less frequent events, which is why a single damaging quake can make earthquakes feel rarer than they really are.

Simple rule of thumb

As magnitude goes up by 1, earthquakes become about 10 times less common and release much more energy. So the world has lots of tiny tremors, far fewer moderate quakes, and only a handful of truly destructive ones.