Shark attack deaths per year in Australia: How many shark attacks are there?
Around two to three people are killed by sharks every year in Australia. But there’s an average of 23-and-a-half shark attacks in Australia annually.
Shark attacks in Australia are notorious. Along with the crocodiles, spiders and snakes, sharks are one of the deadly creatures that put people off visiting Australia. But do we overestimate the dangers posed by shark attacks in Australia? Well, let’s look at how many people are killed by sharks every year.
Shark attacks in Australia: Annual statistics
The Australian Shark Attack File, put together by the Taronga Conservation Society Australia, has pretty exhaustive data on shark attacks in Australia. It investigates any reports, and keeps a count of incidents.
The Australian Shark Attack File has criteria for what counts as a shark attack, and it doesn’t just mean injuries and fatalities. It also includes bites than humans managed to avoid. Or bites inflicted on small watercraft such as kayaks and surfboards.
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It also separates provoked and unprovoked incidents. Provoked incidents often mean initiating engagement with the shark, but can also include things such as spear-fishing in the vicinity. Essentially, a provoked attack is where a human is doing something that the shark might think of as provocation.
The Taronga Conservation Society Australia publishes the last ten years of shark attack data online. As the 2021 figures are incomplete, the following figures come from the previous nine years.
How many people are killed by sharks in Australia every year?
- 2020: 26 shark attacks, 8 fatalities, 11 injuries.
- 2019: 23 shark attacks, 0 fatalities, 20 injuries.
- 2018: 27 shark attacks, 1 fatality, 20 injuries.
- 2017: 18 shark attacks, 1 fatality, 11 injuries
- 2016: 26 shark attacks, 2 fatalities, 16 injuries
- 2015: 33 shark attacks, 2 fatalities, 23 injuries
- 2014: 23 shark attacks, 5 fatalities, 14 injuries
- 2013: 14 shark attacks, 2 fatalities, 10 injuries
- 2012: 22 shark attacks, 2 fatalities, 14 injuries
Shark deaths per year in Australia
This makes for a total of 212 shark attacks in Australia, over nine years. That’s an average of 23.56 shark attacks in Australia per year. The number people killed by sharks in Australia every year varies fairly wildly. But in the nine year period from 2012 to 2020, 23 people were killed by sharks in Australia. That’s an average of 2.56 shark deaths per year in Australia.
In essence, then, sharks kill two to three people every year in Australia. That may seem like a terrifyingly high number. But bear in mind that shark attacks on swimmers at beaches are incredibly rare. Sharks don’t usually come close enough to shore.
Most shark attacks in Australia are on people swimming in deeper ocean waters. This usually means surfers trying to catch an offshore break.
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