Crocodile deaths per year: the short answer
Across the ten years 2015-2024, the CrocAttack database records 4,989 crocodilian attacks and 2,509 deaths worldwide, an average of about 250 deaths a year from all 20-plus species combined. The saltwater crocodile accounts for the most recorded deaths, the Nile crocodile is second, and the American alligator killed 16 people in that entire decade.
All species, worldwide, recorded
Most of any species
United States, all states
Treat all of these as floors, not totals. They count incidents that were reported and recorded, and the database is explicit that a great many were not. See how the counting works below.
Where these figures come from, and what they are not
Every number on this page is read off the per-country rows that the Worldwide Crocodilian Attack Database publishes for 2015-2024. That database was established at Charles Darwin University as CrocBITE and is now maintained by Brandon Sideleau at crocattack.org. Its statistics page gives attacks and fatal attacks for each country and names the species responsible for each. It does not publish per-species or worldwide totals, so the species figures and the worldwide figures here are our own additions of its country rows. Every input is on the page we have linked, so you can redo the arithmetic yourself.
These are recorded incidents, not estimates of the real toll, and the reporting gap is not spread evenly. CrocAttack states that African records should be viewed as largely incomplete, that only Namibia and South Africa are believed to capture most of their incidents, and that reporting in Asia is generally much better than in Africa. United States and Australian records are close to comprehensive. That means the gap between the first two species on this list is a gap in record-keeping as much as in biology, and you should not read the ranking as a settled claim about which animal kills most people.
One figure you will meet everywhere deserves naming. The Nile crocodile is widely credited with 200 to 300 deaths a year, usually attributed to an attack database. The attack database publishes no such estimate. The figure traces to a National Geographic species page which says that firm numbers are sketchy and that up to 200 people may die each year: a hedged ceiling from a magazine, not a count. The recorded count for the species over this decade is the 820 below. Reviewed October 2026.
Species Ranked by Recorded Fatal Attacks
Recorded fatal attacks, 2015-2024, from the CrocAttack country rows. Annual figures are those ten-year counts divided by ten.
- Recorded deaths 2015-2024
- 1,243
- Recorded attacks
- 2,367
- Annual average
- ~124 deaths/yr
The largest living reptile and the species with the most recorded fatal attacks over the decade. Indonesia and Papua New Guinea alone account for more recorded deaths than the whole of Africa. CrocAttack notes that attack frequency tracks human activity rather than crocodile density: East Nusa Tenggara reported the most attacks range-wide despite an average density of just 0.4 non-hatchlings per km. Fishing was the activity in 47.6% of Indonesian cases and 55.2% of Malaysian ones. Australia's share is small and its records are close to comprehensive.
Counted from: Indonesia 1,167 attacks (556 fatal), Papua New Guinea 584 (369), Malaysia 196 (140), Solomon Islands 117 (44), Odisha in India 77 (40), Timor-Leste 73 (42), Philippines 70 (25), Australia's C. porosus split 57 (11), Myanmar 25 (15), Brunei 10 (5). Those rows total 2,376 attacks (1,247 fatal); the 9 attacks (4 fatal) the database attributes to the false gharial sit inside the Indonesian row and are taken out here. Bangladesh's 9 (3) and Sri Lanka's 94 (69) are shared with the mugger and left out, so the true figure is higher.
- Recorded deaths 2015-2024
- 820
- Recorded attacks
- ~1,200
- Annual average
- ~82 deaths/yr
The recorded count is lower than the saltwater crocodile's, but this is the species where the recorded count is least trustworthy. CrocAttack says outright that African records should be viewed as largely incomplete, that only Namibia and South Africa are believed to cover most incidents, and that a very high number of incidents went unrecorded elsewhere. The true Nile crocodile toll may well be the highest of any crocodilian. Water collection, washing and clothes-washing at river edges was the activity in 36.1% of Zambian cases.
Counted from: Zambia 179 attacks (116 fatal), Zimbabwe 167 (107), Mozambique 101 (71), Malawi 97 (73), DR Congo 96 (66), Tanzania 91 (71), Kenya 85 (66), Uganda 83 (69), Angola 92 (62), Namibia 58 (43).
- Recorded deaths 2015-2024
- ~286
- Recorded attacks
- ~720
- Annual average
- ~29 deaths/yr
Far more dangerous than older guides suggest, and the species behind the single worst attack hotspot on record: Uttar Pradesh logged 223 attacks (68 fatal) over the decade, more than any other state or province worldwide. Gujarat, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan each logged 60 or more. Attacks cluster at river ghats, irrigation canals and livestock watering points. The mugger is listed Vulnerable by the IUCN.
Counted from: India 768 attacks (317 fatal) across all species, of which the mugger causes more than the saltwater crocodile; plus Nepal 20 (6), Iran 7 (1), Pakistan 2 (2). Sri Lanka's 94 (69) are shared with C. porosus and are excluded here.
- Recorded deaths 2015-2024
- see note
- Recorded attacks
- see note
- Annual average
- a few deaths/yr
The most dangerous crocodilian in the Americas, though the whole region recorded 75 fatal attacks across all species over the decade, fewer than Zambia alone. Mexico carries by far the largest share. The Florida population is shy and has produced a single recorded bite in the decade, non-fatal. CrocAttack judges attacks in the Americas to be both less frequent and far less severe than in Africa, Asia or Oceania.
Counted from: CrocAttack does not split the Americas by species. It states that C. acutus was responsible for the highest number of attacks and deaths in the Americas over the decade, concentrated in Costa Rica, Mexico and Panama. Mexico recorded 200 attacks (25 fatal), Costa Rica 28 (5), Panama 12 (4), Jamaica 10 (1), Honduras 6 (1).
- Recorded deaths 2015-2024
- see note
- Recorded attacks
- see note
- Annual average
- about 2 deaths/yr
Routinely left out of danger rankings, including earlier versions of this one, yet the database places it above the American alligator on recorded deaths. A Mexican and northern Central American freshwater species, smaller than the American crocodile but responsible for a disproportionate share of fatal incidents in Tamaulipas.
Counted from: CrocAttack states that C. moreletii caused fewer attacks but MORE deaths than the American alligator in the Americas over the decade, particularly in Tamaulipas, Mexico. Its incidents sit inside the Mexico 200 (25 fatal), Guatemala 17 (1) and Belize 11 (1) rows.
- Recorded deaths 2015-2024
- 16
- Recorded attacks
- 121
- Annual average
- ~1.6 deaths/yr
The best-documented crocodilian on earth and the least dangerous of the large species. Note that Florida is not the whole picture: South Carolina recorded six deaths in the decade to Florida's eight, from a fraction of the encounters. Alligator bites have become more frequent, not less: Florida averaged about 12 unprovoked bites a year over 2016-2025 against an all-time average near six. Almost all fatal attacks involve large alligators in water, and alligators fed by humans are markedly more dangerous. Feeding them is illegal in Florida.
Counted from: CrocAttack records 122 US attacks (16 fatal) over the decade: Florida 95 (8), South Carolina 17 (6), Texas 5 (1), Louisiana 4 (1), Mississippi 1 (0). One Florida bite was an American crocodile. Florida FWC's own table (last updated February 2026) records 500 unprovoked bites and 32 fatal since 1948, including 119 bites and 9 deaths across 2016-2025.
- Recorded deaths 2015-2024
- see note
- Recorded attacks
- see note
- Annual average
- about 1 death/yr
The largest caiman, reaching 5 metres and more, and second only to the American crocodile on recorded attacks in the Americas. Fatal incidents are documented but uncommon, mostly in remote Amazonian communities where CrocAttack notes incidents are more likely to be missed. Historically hunted hard; recovering populations are less habituated to avoiding people.
Counted from: CrocAttack ranks M. niger second to C. acutus on attacks in the Americas. Its incidents sit inside the Brazil 87 (14 fatal), Bolivia 9 (3), Peru 6 (1) and Guyana 3 (1) rows, shared with other caiman species.
- Recorded deaths 2015-2024
- very few
- Recorded attacks
- tens over the decade
- Annual average
- under 1 death/yr
Spectacled caimans are numerous but usually under 2 metres, and attacks are rarely fatal. Broad-snouted and yacare caimans are similar. The introduced spectacled caiman population in Florida has produced no recorded attacks.
Counted from: Spectacled, yacare, broad-snouted and dwarf caimans appear in the Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Argentina, Paraguay and French Guiana rows. The decade's only C. crocodilus fatality, in Colombia, involved an infant; the one Paleosuchus palpebrosus incident, in Brazil, was non-fatal.
- Recorded deaths 2015-2024
- 0
- Recorded attacks
- 0
- Annual average
- none recorded
No confirmed fatal attack by a gharial on a human is on record. The long, narrow jaws and fish-catching dentition cannot deliver the crushing or grabbing bite needed to subdue a large mammal. Note that the unrelated false gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii) is a different animal and does kill: CrocAttack attributes 9 attacks, 4 of them fatal, to it in Riau, Indonesia, over the same decade.
Counted from: No gharial incident appears anywhere in the CrocAttack 2015-2024 records. Indian and Nepalese attacks in that period are attributed to C. palustris, and Odisha's to C. porosus.
Why Do Some Species Kill More Humans?
Three factors explain most of the variation, and crocodile numbers are not one of them.
What people are doing in the water
CrocAttack publishes the victim's activity, and it is the clearest pattern in the data. Fishing accounted for 47.6% of Indonesian cases and 55.2% of Malaysian ones. Water collection, bathing and clothes-washing accounted for 36.1% of Zambian cases and 32.4% of Indonesian ones. In Australia, where almost nobody depends on a river for water, 42.3% of cases were non-fishing leisure. Subsistence use of crocodile water is the single biggest driver of fatal encounters.
Body size
Attacks by small individuals are usually survivable. The two species with the most recorded deaths, the saltwater and Nile crocodiles, routinely produce animals of 4 to 6 metres that can drown an adult without difficulty. American alligators reach similar lengths but attack far less often per encounter.
Predatory boldness
Saltwater and Nile crocodiles treat large mammals, humans included, as prey. American alligators are generally afraid of people and bite defensively or opportunistically rather than predatorily. The distinction decides outcomes: a defensive bite and retreat is usually survivable, a predatory ambush in deep water often is not.
Not population size
It is tempting to assume more crocodiles means more attacks. The database says otherwise. East Nusa Tenggara in Indonesia reported more attacks than anywhere in the saltwater crocodile's range over the decade, at an average density of just 0.4 non-hatchlings per km, while parts of Malaysian Borneo hold higher densities with fewer incidents. CrocAttack also notes that attacks remain common in Papua New Guinea despite frequent hunting, which suggests culls do not reduce them.
Common Questions
How many people are killed by crocodiles each year?
Adding up every country row CrocAttack publishes for 2015 to 2024 gives 4,989 recorded attacks and 2,509 recorded deaths worldwide, an average of about 250 deaths a year across all crocodilian species. That is a floor rather than a true toll: CrocAttack states that African records are largely incomplete and that reporting in Asia is considerably better than in Africa.
Which crocodile kills the most people?
On recorded deaths it is the saltwater crocodile, with 1,243 fatal attacks over 2015 to 2024, ahead of the Nile crocodile on 820. But the two species are not documented equally well. CrocAttack says only Namibia and South Africa are believed to record most of their incidents, so the Nile crocodile's true toll may be the higher of the two.
How many people do Nile crocodiles kill per year?
CrocAttack's African country rows for 2015 to 2024 add up to 820 recorded deaths attributed to the Nile crocodile, an average of about 82 a year. Zambia (116) and Zimbabwe (107) recorded the most. The frequently quoted figure of up to 200 a year comes from National Geographic, which says in the same sentence that firm numbers are sketchy; it is not a figure the attack database publishes.
What is the alligator versus crocodile death toll?
Over 2015 to 2024 CrocAttack recorded 16 fatal American alligator attacks, all in the United States, against roughly 2,490 deaths from crocodiles and caimans worldwide. Florida FWC's own table, last updated February 2026, records 32 fatal alligator bites and 500 unprovoked bites in total since 1948.
Practical Safety Guidelines
- 1.Never swim in rivers, lakes, or coastal waters in saltwater or Nile crocodile territory without local expert guidance.
- 2.In Florida, maintain at least 15 feet (4.5 m) from alligators. Never feed them; it is illegal and makes them dangerous.
- 3.In northern Australia, follow warning signs absolutely. "No swimming" signs in crocodile country are not suggestions.
- 4.In Africa and South Asia, collect water and wash away from riverbanks and ghats, and never after dark. Those activities account for the largest share of fatal attacks in both regions.
- 5.If attacked by a crocodile in shallow water, strike at the eyes and nostrils; these are the most sensitive areas. If grabbed, do not play dead.