China

CHN · 2024 energy mix · renewables 17.4% · fossil fuels 80.3%

Threat reading 50 of 100, classified HIGH THREAT, HOLDING. 8 events recorded here in the last seven days, 8 in the last thirty.

That number is computed from live feeds and moves. The live monitor is where to read it as of right now.

Where its energy comes from

Coal	52.8%
Oil	18.5%
Gas	9.0%
Hydro	6.8%
Wind	5.0%
Solar	4.2%
Nuclear	2.3%
Other renewables	1.3%

In 2024, renewables accounted for 17.4% and fossil fuels for 80.3%. On electricity traded with its neighbours, China is close to balanced on electricity trade.

Sources under one per cent of the mix are left out of the table rather than listed as a row of zeroes. Percentages are shares of a country's primary energy, not of the power it generates.

Recorded history

NOAA's hazard records hold 622 significant earthquakes, 25 tsunamis and one significant eruption in or just off China since 46.

The deadliest was the 23 January 1556 magnitude 8.0 earthquake (China: Shaanxi Province), which killed 830,000 people.

The strongest earthquake on record here was magnitude 8.6, on 15 August 1950 (India-china).

The most recent entry is the 22 October 2026 magnitude 7.0 earthquake (China: Tibet (Xizang Province)).

Across the entries that record a death toll, 2,134,535 people died.

Date	What	Where	Toll
23 January 1556	magnitude 8.0 earthquake	China: Shaanxi Province	830,000 dead, damage over $25 million
27 July 1976	magnitude 7.5 earthquake	China: Ne: Tangshan	242,769 dead, $5,600 million damage
16 December 1920	magnitude 8.3 earthquake	China: Gansu Province, Shanxi Province	235,502 dead, $25 million damage
27 September 1290	magnitude 6.8 earthquake	China: Nei Mongol: Ningcheng	100,000 dead, damage $5 to 25 million
12 May 2008	magnitude 7.9 earthquake	China: Sichuan Province	87,652 dead, 5,360,000 homes destroyed, $86,000 million damage
19 June 1718	magnitude 7.5 earthquake	China: Gansu Province	73,000 dead, damage over $25 million
3 January 1739	magnitude 8.0 earthquake	China: Ningxia	50,000 dead, damage over $25 million
25 July 1668	magnitude 8.5 earthquake	China: Shandong Province	42,578 dead, damage over $25 million
25 July 1668	tsunami	Tancheng, Shandong Province	42,578 dead, damage over $25 million
22 May 1927	magnitude 7.7 earthquake	China: Gansu Province	40,912 dead, 26,674 homes destroyed, damage over $25 million
9 January 1038	magnitude 7.3 earthquake	China: Shaanxi Province: Dingxiang, Xinxian	32,300 dead, damage over $25 million
1057	magnitude 6.8 earthquake	China: Beijing	25,000 dead, damage over $25 million
December 1037	earthquake	China: Jiangsu Province: Taichou	22,391 dead, damage over $25 million
1 July 1879	magnitude 8.0 earthquake	China: Gansu Province	22,000 dead, damage over $25 million
12 September 1850	magnitude 7.5 earthquake	China: Sichuan: Xichang	20,650 dead, damage over $25 million
18 May 1695	magnitude 8.0 earthquake	China: Shanxi Province: Linfen	20,000 dead, damage over $25 million
10 May 1974	magnitude 7.1 earthquake	China: Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces, Chao-t'ung	20,000 dead, damage $5 to 25 million
4 January 1970	magnitude 7.1 earthquake	China: Yunnan Province; Vietnam: Hanoi	15,621 dead, damage $5 to 25 million
2 September 1679	magnitude 8.0 earthquake	China: Hebei Province	13,162 dead, damage over $25 million
23 October 1815	magnitude 6.8 earthquake	China: Shanxi Province	13,000 dead, 20,000 homes destroyed, damage over $25 million
25 October 1622	magnitude 7.0 earthquake	China: Ningxia: Pingliang, Longde	12,000 dead, 11,800 homes destroyed, damage over $25 million
21 July 1654	magnitude 8.0 earthquake	China: Gansu Province: Tianshui	10,400 dead, damage over $25 million
10 August 1931	magnitude 8.0 earthquake	China: Xinjiang Weiwuer Zizhiqu Province: N	10,000 dead, damage over $25 million
2 June 1219	magnitude 6.5 earthquake	China: Ningxia	10,000 dead, damage over $25 million
12 April 1921	magnitude 6.2 earthquake	China: Ningxia	10,000 dead, damage over $25 million

These are the 25 deadliest and largest of 648 entries. A dash means NOAA recorded no number, not that nobody died. Older entries are fewer because fewer were written down, not because less happened.

Recorded history: NOAA NCEI hazard databases, public domain, retrieved 2026-10-22.

In the last 30 days

The most recent events our feeds placed in China:

7 November 2026: M 3.0 - SOUTHERN XINJIANG, CHINA
7 November 2026: M 3.0 - NORTHERN XINJIANG, CHINA
7 November 2026: M 3.2 - NORTHERN QINGHAI, CHINA
7 November 2026: Earthquake in China
7 November 2026: M 3.7 - WESTERN XIZANG
5 November 2026: Forest fires in China
5 November 2026: Forest fires in China
5 November 2026: Forest fires in China

What the threat reading is made of

Conflict	0
Unrest	0
Security	50
Spillover from neighbours	41
Natural hazard	25
Resilience	77

Each is 0 to 100. Resilience runs the other way to the rest: a high number is a country better able to absorb a shock, not a country in more trouble.

Large caldera systems here

Changbaishan Stratovolcano

Other countries tracked

Colombia Oil 42%
Cyprus Oil 89%
Czechia Oil 29%
Germany Oil 37%
Denmark Oil 47%
Algeria Gas 66%
Ecuador Oil 72%
Egypt Gas 53%

All countries with a page.

Where the data comes from

Energy mix, 2024: Our World in Data, energy dataset (https://github.com/owid/energy-data), compiled by Pablo Rosado, Hannah Ritchie, Edouard Mathieu and Max Roser from the Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Ember and The Shift Dataportal. Licence: Our World in Data's own compilation is CC BY 4.0. The underlying figures stay under their original terms: Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy, U.S. EIA, Ember and The Shift Dataportal. The percentages shown here and the wording are ours. Threat reading: computed by Rift Web from the feeds listed on the sources page.