As of January, 2018, which nation had the largest number of known active volcanoes?

According to the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, the United States has 173 active volcanoes. Four more nations each has more than 100 active volcanoes: Russia, 166; Indonesia, 139; Japan, 112; Chile, 104.

Rounding out the top 10 volcano-plagued countries are Ethiopia, 57; Papua New Guinea, 53; The Philippines, 50; Mexico, 43; Argentina, 39.

Except for Ethiopa—which is in the Horn of Africa, near the east coast and just south of the Arabian Peninsula—all the nations holding this dangerous distinction are along the Pacific Rim, which defines the Pacific Ocean basin, in an area appropriately called the “Ring of Fire”. On the ring, interaction of many of the earth’s tectonic plates cause volcanic activity and, along the plate faults, earthquakes.