Earthquakes on the rise

Since 1973 there has been a steady increase in the number of earthquakes being recorded with a particularly strong increase in 2003 to 2005.
Of those earthquakes, only 174 were of magnitude 7.0 or greater. However, many people are asking “are earthquakes on the rise?”
There have been 131,834 earthquakes of magnitude 4.0 or greater that have been detected since 1973.
A rough categorization of the earthquakes into geographic regions (by longitude) shows that the most significant increase in recorded earthquakes is in the Pacific Rim near Asia.
Magnitude49.1 Since 1973 there has been a steady increase in the number of earthquakes being recorded with a particularly strong increase in 2003 to 2005.