How often do sharks bite people, and why does it happen?
Worldwide, scientists confirmed 65 unprovoked shark bites on people in 2025, and they still argue about why sharks bite at all.
Sharks bite people rarely. The International Shark Attack File, the main global record, confirmed 65 shark bites on humans worldwide in 2025, along with 29 bites. That total is in line with the 2020 to 2024 average of 61 a year. There were 12 shark-related deaths in 2025, nine of them unprovoked, close to a five-year average of eight. Each of those numbers is a person and a family, and the file itself calls the overall total extremely low.
Unprovoked shark bites worldwide: 2025 against the recent average
bites
| Average 2020-2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| All unprovoked bites | 61 bites | 65 bites |
| Fatal unprovoked bites | 8 bites | 9 bites |
Most bites are linked to people who are in the water for fun. In 2025, swimmers and waders accounted for 46 percent of incidents, surfers and board-sport users for 32 percent, and snorkelers and free divers for 15 percent. The United States recorded the most bites, with 25 confirmed cases, and Australia had 21, well above its recent average of 13 a year. Most of the 2025 deaths were caused by white sharks, three of them in Australia and one in California.
Why does it happen? Nobody knows for sure. The most common type is the , which typically occurs in the or in murky water, and most hit-and-run attacks are believed to be the result of mistaken identity. That idea is a , not a settled fact. Other researchers say sharks make exploratory bites, a kind of test bite on an unfamiliar object.
Of more than 480 shark species, only three, the great white, tiger and bull, are responsible for two-digit numbers of fatal attacks.
Quiz me
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Recap
Shark bites on people are rare, and scientists still debate whether they are mistaken identity or exploratory bites.
💡 A trick to remember it · Sixty-five bites for a planet of swimmers: rare, with two stories (mistaken or testing) about the cause.
Surprising fact · Only three of more than 480 shark species have caused two-digit numbers of fatal unprovoked attacks.
Connects to
- 🦈 How does a great white shark hunt, and where does it live?
- ⚖️ How does the risk of a shark bite compare with other dangers?
- 🚨 How can a 95%-accurate test be wrong 98% of the times it says yes?
- 🦈 How did a broken mechanical shark invent the summer blockbuster?
- 🎲 How did an unfinished game of chance give birth to probability theory?
Sources (4)
No source, no claim. Every fact in this lesson (22 claims) cites at least one of these.