Active Volcanoes Around the World

Indonesia is the most volcanically active country on Earth, with 22 volcanoes that have erupted since 2020. The Indonesian archipelago straddles three major tectonic plates — the Eurasian, Indo-Australian, and Pacific — creating one of the most complex and active volcanic arcs on the planet.

The Sunda-Banda Arc stretches approximately 5,600 km from Sumatra in the west to the Banda Islands in the east. Along this arc, the Indo-Australian Plate subducts beneath the Eurasian Plate at varying angles and rates, producing a remarkable diversity of volcanic activity. Mount Merapi on Java, with 106 confirmed eruptions and a history of lethal pyroclastic flows, is one of the most closely monitored volcanoes in the world. Semeru, Java's highest peak at 3,657 m (11,998 ft), has been in near-continuous eruption since 1967. Krakatau, infamous for its 1883 cataclysm, continues to rebuild and erupt from its new cone, Anak Krakatau.

Indonesia's volcanic hazard challenge is immense: over 8.6 million people live within potential volcanic hazard zones. The country's Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (CVGHM) monitors all active volcanoes and operates an alert system using four levels: Normal, Advisory, Watch, and Warning.

The Pacific Ring of Fire accounts for approximately 75% of the world's active volcanoes and 90% of its earthquakes. This 40,000 km horseshoe-shaped belt of subduction zones and volcanic arcs encircles the Pacific Ocean from New Zealand northward through the western Pacific, across Kamchatka, down the Aleutians, and southward along the Americas.

In the Northwestern Pacific, Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula hosts some of the most spectacularly active volcanoes on the planet. Klyuchevskoy (4,754 m), the tallest active volcano in Eurasia, erupts roughly every 1–2 years with powerful Strombolian and Vulcanian explosions. Sheveluch and Bezymianny are similarly prolific, producing frequent dome-building eruptions punctuated by explosive collapses.

Japan's volcanic arc contributes 12 recently active volcanoes, including Sakurajima (within the Aira caldera), which erupts hundreds of times per year with small explosive events, and Iwo Jima, where recent volcanic uplift has raised the island by several meters.

The Southwestern Pacific features intense activity in Papua New Guinea (Manam, Ulawun, Bagana) and Vanuatu (Yasur, Ambae, Ambrym), where rapid subduction rates sustain high eruption frequencies.

The Americas contribute 34 recently active volcanoes spanning from the Aleutian Islands of Alaska to the Southern Volcanic Zone of Chile.

In North America, the United States's 12 recently active volcanoes are concentrated in two areas: the Aleutian arc in Alaska (Great Sitkin, Shishaldin, Pavlof) and the Hawaiian hotspot (Kilauea, Mauna Loa). Popocatépetl in Mexico is among the most closely watched volcanoes in the world, erupting continuously since 2005 with over 25 million people in its extended hazard zone.

Central America's volcanic arc, generated by the Cocos Plate subducting beneath the Caribbean Plate, features persistently active volcanoes including Fuego in Guatemala (whose 2018 eruption killed at least 190 people), Poás in Costa Rica, and Telica in Nicaragua.

South America's Andean Volcanic Belt contributes multiple recently active volcanoes, led by Villarrica in Chile (152 confirmed eruptions), Sabancaya in Peru, and Reventador in Ecuador.

Europe and Africa contribute a smaller but significant number of recently active volcanoes, including some of the most closely monitored in the world.

Mount Etna and Stromboli in Italy are Europe's two most active volcanoes. Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe at 3,357 m (11,014 ft), has been erupting frequently with lava fountains and paroxysmal episodes. Stromboli continues its millennia-old pattern of persistent Strombolian explosions, punctuated by occasional larger events that send pyroclastic flows down the Sciara del Fuoco. Iceland sits on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where the Eurasian and North American plates diverge. The Reykjanes Peninsula has entered a new volcanic cycle after 800 years of dormancy, with a series of fissure eruptions since 2021 that have repeatedly threatened the town of Grindavík and the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa.

In East Africa, the Erta Ale shield volcano in Ethiopia maintains a persistent lava lake — one of only a handful on Earth. Nyiragongo in the DR Congo, whose exceptionally fluid lava lake can drain catastrophically through fissures, poses one of the greatest volcanic threats in Africa — its 2002 eruption sent lava flows through the city of Goma, displacing 400,000 people.

La Palma in Spain's Canary Islands erupted in September 2021 for the first time since 1971, destroying over 2,900 buildings during an 85-day eruption that was the longest recorded on the island.