How often do earthquakes happen?

Earthquakes happen constantly around the world. In an average year, there might be 20-25 magnitude 7 earthquakes globally -- about one every 2 to 3 weeks. On the other end of the magnitude scale (re-read Section 6 if you like), there are literally hundreds of thousands of tiny earthquakes worldwide in a given year.

Here's a little table with worldwide average rates:

Table 2:   Worldwide Earthquake Rates

 

Sources

• Dr. Bruce Bolt's book Earthquakes
• Center for Earthquake Research and Information (CERI) at the University of Memphis
• This page, run by the US Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center

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