Number of shark attacks worldwide 2021

In 2021, there were a total of 73 unprovoked shark attacks on humans worldwide. Nine of those shark attacks were fatal which is a slight decrease from the previous year. The number of total attacks on the other hand, increased in 2021.

Number of unprovoked shark attacks worldwide from 2000 to 2021

Characteristic	Total Attacks	Fatal	Non-fatal
2000	89	11	78
2001	76	4	72
2002	66	3	63
2003	56	4	52
2004	66	7	59
2005	58	4	54
2006	59	4	55
2007	70	1	69
2008	55	4	51
2009	68	7	61
2010	82	6	76
2011	79	13	66
2012	83	7	76
2013	77	10	67
2014	73	3	70
2015	98	6	92
2016	81	4	77
2017	88	5	83
2018	66	4	62
2019	64	2	62
2020	57	10	47
2021	73	9	64

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Release date

March 2022

More information

Region

Worldwide

Survey time period

2000 to 2021

Supplementary notes

Unprovoked attacks are defined as incidents where an attack on a live human occurs in the shark’s natural habitat with no human provocation of the shark.

Data for previous years can be found here.

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