How many earthquakes occur every year?

As of 2014, estimates suggest that over 500,000 earthquakes occur each year, and 100,000 of these are strong enough to be felt by humans. Since 1900, there has been a global average of 18 major earthquakes, and one giant earthquake, each year.

Around 90 percent of the world's earthquakes occur within the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of high seismic activity some 40,000 kilometers in length. Examples of earthquakes occurring within this zone include the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the 2010 earthquake in central Chile and the 2011 Tohuku earthquake off the coast of Japan that triggered a devastating tsunami.