Deadliest animals to humans 2022 | Statista (2024)

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Deadliest animals to humans 2022 | Statista? ›

The answer might surprise you. A nonfiction article examines the threat mosquitoes pose to human health, mostly through the spread of malaria, while an infographic presents the much-loathed creatures in a more positive light.

The answer might surprise you. A nonfiction article examines the threat mosquitoes pose to human health, mostly through the spread of malaria, while an infographic presents the much-loathed creatures in a more positive light.

Mosquitoes are the most dangerous animal in the world, killing 725,000 humans per year through spreading diseases such as malaria. Only female mosquitos bite, making them the most dangerous.

In 1930 a baby got smothered to death when a cat slept on the baby. There are other events like these. Other than that a domestic house cat has never killed anyone.

Between 2014 and 2023, the average yearly number of fatal shark attacks worldwide was 5.8, while the average number of fatal wild pig attacks was 19.7. In 2024 alone, there have already been seven deaths from wild pig incidents.

Bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus): 211 years old

Another inhabitant of icy northern waters, the bowhead whale, holds the record for the longest-living mammal. It was already known that it could live for a century, but a more detailed study found much older specimens, one of which lived to be 211 years old.

After mosquitoes, these animals are most deadly to humans each year, according to Discover Wildlife: Freshwater snails: 200,000 deaths per year. Saw-scaled viper: 138,000 deaths per year. Assassin bugs: 10,000 deaths per year.

What kills the most humans every year? ›

This includes cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and chronic respiratory diseases. They tend to develop gradually over time and aren't infectious themselves. Heart diseases were the most common cause, responsible for a third of all deaths globally. Cancers were in second, causing almost one-in-five deaths.

Mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas are among the arthropods responsible for transmitting many of the myriad bacteria, viruses, and parasites that cause vectorborne diseases―as are some mammals. In terms of infectious disease transmission, mosquitoes are considered the most dangerous animals on earth.

The most friendly animal on earth is often considered to be the capybara from Central and Southern America. This large member of the rodent family is a sociable, easy to train creature that enjoys the company of human beings.

#1: Mosquito

It kills more people than all the other animals on this list combined. Mosquitoes carry diseases that kill more than 1 million people each year. These diseases include Malaria, Dengue Fever, and Yellow Fever. Malaria alone kills more than 3,000 African children each day.

The hardest threats for us to avoid are those that could happen at any time, without very little warning: gamma-ray bursts and asteroid impacts. While neither of them would destroy life on Earth forever, they may very well destroy us completely.

While larger animals like sharks or hippos may seem a likely culprit, the animal that kills the most humans per year is actually the mosquito.

Hint, it's not sharks or snakes. Sharks strike fear in beachgoers, bears are the bane of campers and snakes rattle the nerves of gardeners. But our fears appear misplaced. Stanford University researchers say the animals who most kill Americans are farm animals; hornets, bees and wasps; followed by dogs.

nature's deadliest

Aggressive encounters with hippos led to over 500 human deaths in 2022, often occurring near water bodies where these large mammals inhabit.