The 9 locations around the world where sharks attack most, from Florida to Western Australia

• There were 259 shark attacks around the Florida coast between 2012 and 2021, the most of any area.
• The risk of being bitten by a shark is low, and deaths from a shark attack are rare.

The Sunshine State holds the title of the location with the highest rate of shark attacks around the world, with 259 bites in Florida from 2012 to 2021.

But the risk of being bitten by a shark is still low, and deaths from a shark attack are rare, with just 60 fatal incidents worldwide from 2012 to 2021, according to the Florida Museum's International Shark Attack File (ISAF).

While the bull shark, the great white shark, and the tiger shark are reportedly the three species most likely to attack humans, there are certain regions where you're much more likely to get bitten.

Insider has taken a look at some of the major shark attack hot spots around the world, from Australia to the Bahamas.

1. Florida

Florida tops the rankings for the highest rate of shark attacks globally, according to the ISAF.

September is the main time for shark attacks in Florida, with the highest chance of being bitten is in Volusia County, known as the "shark bite capital of the world," between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m., ISAF statistics suggest.

The ISAF says that the US tops the charts for "confirmed unprovoked" shark attacks since 1580, with a recorded 1,604 incidents. Between 2012 and 2021 the ISAF counted 259 bites.

Mark Sumersett, 38, was reportedly bitten in the face in the waters off of New Smyrna Beach earlier this month, WESH 2 News reported.

"It was the scariest thing I've probably ever been through in my life. I've been in bad car accidents. Nothing like this," he told the outlet.

2. Australia

Australia saw 143 attacks from 2012 to 2021, per the ISAF.

There were nine unprovoked attacks in Australia in 2022, with four New South Wales and Western Australia and one in Victoria, CNN reported.

Simon Nellist, a 35-year-old scuba diving instructor, was killed by a great white shark in what the ISAF classified as a "provoked incident" near Little Bay, off the coast of Sydney, earlier this year.

3. Hawaii

The Pacific island state of Hawaii saw 76 bites between 2012 and 2021, three of which were fatal, per the ISAF.

Maui is the most prone to shark encounters of all the Hawaiian islands due to its underwater terrain, which provides natural habitats favored by Tiger sharks, CNN reported.

4. South Carolina

The Palmetto State had 45 shark attacks from 2012 to 2021, none of which were fatal, per ISAF.

In July, a 60-year-old man was reportedly bitten on the foot by a shark while in shallow waters off of the coast of Sea Pines beach, Live Science reported.

The man, who was in water roughly waist deep when he was attacked, was removed from the ocean and later transported by paramedics to the Hilton Head Hospital for treatment, the Town of Hilton Head Island Government wrote in a Facebook post about the incident.

5. North Carolina

There were 31 recorded shark bites in North Carolina between 2012 and 2021, according to the ISAF. None of them were fatal, per the report.

An eight-year-old boy was attacked in the state while he was swimming off of Bald Head Island in June, 2019 — one of three attacks that month, The New York Times reported.

6. South Africa and California

In joint fifth are South Africa and California, with 29 bites each from 2012 to 2021. Six of the attacks in South Africa, and three of the attacks in California, were fatal.

A woman was killed in a second fatal shark attack in the area of Plettenberg Bay in 2022. Kimon Bisogno died while on vacation with her family.

Sara Andreotti, a marine biologist and postdoctoral research fellow at South Africa's Stellenbosch University, told CBS News that two attacks in a year was a rare occurrence.

"Globally, there are generally six shark fatalities a year, so two in one area is almost unheard of," she told the publication.

7. Réunion

The Indian Ocean island, which is an overseas department of France, recorded 19 bites off of its shores from 2012 to 2021, with eight of these proving to be deadly, per the ISAF.

Campaigners on Réunion called for the island's beaches to reopen in 2022 after there had been no fatal attacks for three years, The Times of London reported.

The island's west coast beaches had been a popular surfing destination, but water activities were banned across much of the island due to the shark-infested ocean around it, Smithsonian Magazine reported.

The last fatality was 28-year-old French tourist Kim Mahbouli, who died after his leg was bitten off while in a banned area of water in May 2019, The Mirror reported.

8. Brazil

Brazil comes next with 10 reported bites from 2012 to 2021, three of which were fatal, per the ISAF.

Earlier this year, a 15-year old girl hit out at bystanders who filmed a horrific attack in which she lost her arm on Piedade Beach in the northeast of Brazil.

"At the time, I thought someone was playing a prank on me because there were many people around me," she told local news outlets, The Daily Star reported.

"I still had doubts. I thought, 'this isn't happening to me. It's a nightmare.' I thought I was going to wake up. It was only in the ambulance that it sunk in," she added.

9. Bahamas

The Caribbean island nation had at least five attacks from 2012 to 2021.

Model Katarina Zarutskie was attacked off of the country's Exuma islands in 2018, when a shark latched onto her wrist and dragged her underwater, the BBC reported.

"At that point, your body has so much adrenaline going, and you just have to get out of the situation, but I stayed extremely calm," she told the BBC.

"I think if someone was screaming and flailing around it definitely could have changed the situation," she added.

In 2019, it was reported that a young American woman who was snorkeling was attacked by three sharks simultaneously and died.