India has been identified as the country with the highest number of snake attacks globally, according to a new study by scientists at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. The research estimates that between 2.1 and 7 million people experience snake bites annually worldwide, with a significant portion occurring in low-income nations.
The study, published in PLOS Medicine, analyzed data from 79 countries between January 2007 and March 2025 to quantify the global burden of snake envenoming. Researchers estimate that between 274,000 and 513,000 of these incidents are fatal each year. However, they caution that these figures may be conservative, with the true burden potentially being much higher.
India accounts for a substantial number of these incidents, with estimates ranging from 409,000 to 1.3 million attacks annually. Nigeria follows with an estimated 198,000 to 666,000 attacks per year. Other countries with high reported incidents include Indonesia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Bangladesh.
The research highlights that sub-Saharan Africa alone accounts for approximately 45% of global envenomings and deaths, a rate nearly three times higher than that observed in South Asia. This suggests that previous estimates of the problem's scale may have been significantly underestimated.
While countries like Australia are often perceived as having abundant wildlife, they do not rank among the top 20 countries for snake attacks according to this study. The findings come amidst reports of several notable snake-related incidents in recent years, including a widely publicized case in Indonesia where a woman was found inside a python and another incident in Brazil involving a snake bite to a man's penis.
The study also noted that snake bites remain a significant public health issue, particularly in regions with limited access to healthcare and antivenom. The researchers emphasized the need for more accurate and up-to-date data to address the problem effectively.