Only earthquakes of magnitude 6 or above are included, unless they result in damage and/or casualties, or are notable for some other reason.

Death toll was relatively low this year, and most of casualties came from China in August.

Note that an increase in detected earthquake numbers does not necessarily represent an increase in earthquakes per se.

Population increase, habitation spread, and advances in earthquake detection technology all contribute to higher earthquake numbers being recorded over time.

For exact dates and live earthquakes please visit USGS's Global Earthquake Search Page and Real-time Earthquake Map or EMSC's Real-time Seismicity.