The maps below compare how many school shooting incidents and deaths there are in the US compared to various European countries.
I have is published all the data below along with notes on sources and methodology.
The Total Number of School Shooting Incidents By US State Between 1966 and 2025
The Total Number of School Shooting Incidents By European Country Between 1966 and 2025
Number of School Shootings Per Million People By US State Between 1966 and 2025
Number of School Shootings Per Million People By European Country Between 1966 and 2025
Total School Shooting Deaths By European Country Between 1966 and 2025
Number of School Shooting Deaths Per Million People By European Country Between 1966 and 2025
Map Showing US School Shooting Numbers & Locations Over Time
A few notes before getting to the data:
- 1966 was picked as the starting year because that’s how far back the US K-12 School Shooting Database goes
- All data based on per million calculations are based on the total number of incidents or deaths between 1966 and 2025 divided by the country or state’s 2025 population.
- Per million data for Europe includes the entire continent not just the countries with incidents or deaths
- Scotland’s death numbers are almost entirely as a result of the Dunblane massacre. (1996)
- Russia’s death numbers are almost entirely as a result of the Beslan school siege (2004)
- Finland’s numbers are a result of the Jokela school shooting (2007) and Kauhajoki school shooting (2008)
Here is the data for both US States & European Countries:
| Country and US States | School Shooting Incidents | School Shooting Incidents Per Million People |
|---|---|---|
| District of Columbia | 56 | 78.10 |
| Delaware | 22 | 20.60 |
| Louisiana | 84 | 18.20 |
| Maryland | 99 | 15.70 |
| Tennessee | 109 | 14.90 |
| Alabama | 76 | 14.60 |
| New Mexico | 29 | 13.60 |
| Mississippi | 36 | 12.20 |
| Ohio | 143 | 12.00 |
| Illinois | 152 | 11.90 |
| Michigan | 119 | 11.70 |
| Arkansas | 36 | 11.60 |
| South Carolina | 58 | 10.40 |
| Missouri | 64 | 10.20 |
| Georgia | 112 | 9.91 |
| North Carolina | 110 | 9.81 |
| Pennsylvania | 128 | 9.74 |
| Montana | 11 | 9.62 |
| Alaska | 7 | 9.41 |
| Kansas | 28 | 9.37 |
| Vermont | 6 | 9.26 |
| Indiana | 62 | 8.90 |
| United States | 2980 | 8.68 |
| Oregon | 37 | 8.62 |
| Washington | 67 | 8.31 |
| Wisconsin | 48 | 8.01 |
| Kentucky | 37 | 8.00 |
| Nebraska | 16 | 7.91 |
| Virginia | 70 | 7.88 |
| Nevada | 26 | 7.83 |
| Connecticut | 29 | 7.82 |
| Oklahoma | 31 | 7.51 |
| Texas | 237 | 7.44 |
| Colorado | 44 | 7.32 |
| Rhode Island | 8 | 7.14 |
| Iowa | 23 | 7.05 |
| Utah | 25 | 7.01 |
| California | 277 | 6.98 |
| Florida | 159 | 6.67 |
| South Dakota | 6 | 6.44 |
| New York | 119 | 5.95 |
| Idaho | 12 | 5.91 |
| Minnesota | 33 | 5.66 |
| West Virginia | 10 | 5.65 |
| New Hampshire | 8 | 5.65 |
| Maine | 7 | 4.96 |
| Hawaii | 7 | 4.82 |
| Arizona | 31 | 4.03 |
| Massachusetts | 29 | 4.02 |
| North Dakota | 3 | 3.73 |
| Wyoming | 2 | 3.39 |
| New Jersey | 32 | 3.33 |
| Luxembourg | 1 | 1.47 |
| Finland | 6 | 1.07 |
| Northern Ireland | 2 | 1.05 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 3 | 0.96 |
| Estonia | 1 | 0.74 |
| Albania | 2 | 0.72 |
| Kosovo | 1 | 0.63 |
| Switzerland | 5 | 0.56 |
| Scotland | 3 | 0.55 |
| Austria | 5 | 0.55 |
| Italy | 32 | 0.54 |
| Netherlands | 9 | 0.49 |
| Serbia | 3 | 0.45 |
| Norway | 2 | 0.36 |
| Hungary | 3 | 0.31 |
| Greece | 3 | 0.30 |
| Portugal | 3 | 0.29 |
| Sweden | 3 | 0.28 |
| England | 15 | 0.26 |
| Croatia | 1 | 0.26 |
| France | 17 | 0.26 |
| Europe | 166 | 0.22 |
| Germany | 16 | 0.19 |
| Denmark | 1 | 0.17 |
| Bulgaria | 1 | 0.15 |
| Spain | 6 | 0.13 |
| Russia | 15 | 0.10 |
| Czech Republic | 1 | 0.09 |
| Belgium | 1 | 0.09 |
| Poland | 2 | 0.05 |
| Ukraine | 1 | 0.03 |
| Turkey | 2 | 0.02 |
And here is more detailed information by European country and the US as a whole:
| Country | School Shooting Incidents | Deaths | Injuries | School Shooting Incidents Per Million People | School Shooting Deaths Per Million |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| France | 17 | 17 | 11 | 0.26 | 0.26 |
| Scotland | 3 | 18 | 16 | 0.55 | 3.31 |
| Italy | 32 | 19 | 26 | 0.54 | 0.32 |
| Germany | 16 | 55 | 54 | 0.19 | 0.65 |
| Croatia | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.26 | 0.26 |
| Portugal | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0.29 | 0.19 |
| Hungary | 3 | 4 | 4 | 0.31 | 0.42 |
| Bulgaria | 1 | 8 | 8 | 0.15 | 1.19 |
| Netherlands | 9 | 6 | 9 | 0.49 | 0.33 |
| England | 15 | 6 | 14 | 0.26 | 0.11 |
| Russia | 15 | 391 | 884 | 0.10 | 2.72 |
| Turkey | 2 | 8 | 41 | 0.02 | 0.09 |
| Greece | 3 | 6 | 6 | 0.30 | 0.60 |
| Spain | 6 | 4 | 4 | 0.13 | 0.08 |
| Serbia | 3 | 11 | 6 | 0.45 | 1.64 |
| Finland | 6 | 23 | 4 | 1.07 | 4.09 |
| Switzerland | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0.56 | 0.11 |
| Austria | 5 | 15 | 14 | 0.55 | 1.65 |
| Denmark | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0.17 | 0.50 |
| Belgium | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.09 | 0.09 |
| Luxembourg | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1.47 | - |
| Sweden | 3 | 12 | 6 | 0.28 | 1.13 |
| Poland | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0.05 | 0.05 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 3 | 5 | 3 | 0.96 | 1.59 |
| Northern Ireland | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1.05 | 0.52 |
| Norway | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0.36 | 0.36 |
| Albania | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0.72 | 1.08 |
| Kosovo | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.63 | 0.63 |
| Estonia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.74 | 0.74 |
| Ukraine | 1 | 21 | 67 | 0.03 | 0.54 |
| Czech Republic | 1 | 15 | 25 | 0.09 | 1.41 |
| United States | 2980 | 1,111 | 2,385 | 8.68 | 3.24 |
Methodology and Sources
US data comes from the K-12 School Shooting Database created by Riedman, David (2025). K-12 School Shooting Database, via World Population Review.
Here’s how they compile their data:
All shootings at schools includes when a gun is fired, brandished with intent to harm, or a bullet hits school property for any reason, regardless of the number of victims, time, or day of the week.
How many school shootings this year? Unlike other data sources, this information includes gang shootings, domestic violence, shootings at sports games and afterhours school events, suicides, fights that escalate into shootings, and accidents.
It should be noted that this data only includes primary and secondary schools and not universities. A the original time of publication,
European data comes from Wikipedia’s List of school shootings in Europe. Here’s how the compile their data:
Includes any school shootings that occurred at primary and secondary public or private schools, as well as colleges and universities, and on school buses. Excluded from this list are the following:
- Incidents that occurred during wars
- Incidents that occurred as a result of police actions
- Suicides or suicide attempts involving only one person.
Shooting by school staff are covered. This list does not include other types of attack, such as stabbings or bombings. For countries such as Russia or Turkey that straddle the border between Europe and Asia, this list only includes events that occurred on the European side of the country.
So it includes a wider range of schools than the US data. I’ve also assigned incidents that happened in the Soviet Union or Yugoslavia to the successor country in which it occurred.
European data included the death of the perpetrator in the total numbers, whereas the US data actually breaks it down of 1,111 deaths: 855 were victims and 256 were shooters. In addition, 2,385 victims were wounded.
If you have any questions please leave them below:
Pavlvs Maximvs says
Hi, I am a 40+ year old Spanish and have never heard of a single school shooting in Spain my life. ChatGPT can’t find any either, and the ones mentioned in Wikipedia are a man who killed his wife (a teacher) outside school, and a Ukranian politician in Spain shot while dropping his kids at school. None of which are school shootings actually.
Hil Moni says
I wish you would shorten the time period to the last 25 years.
Also, you break the data on shooting deaths by country for Europe but not for US states. Can you add a chart and map with school shooting deaths by US state? An incident can mean many things.
Brilliant Maps says
I originally didn’t have access to the data for each US state but now do so will be looking to add those maps in due course.
Mark says
The database used for these maps is the K-12 School Shooting Database. Critics of the K-12 School Shooting Database often point to the lack of universal definitions for what constitutes a school shooting, leading to discrepancies in reported numbers. The database includes incidents where a gun is fired, brandished, or bullets hit school property, regardless of the number of victims or the context. Their funding and source of information leads to inaccurate numbers from countries with government controlled media.