🫍 The Number of Whales Killed Globally, Per Decade (1900–2020) 1900s: 52,110 1910s: 177,557 1920s: 229,100 1930s: 403,287 1940s: 256,989 1950s: 613,862 1960s: 703,235 1970s: 363,661 1980s: 77,074 1990s: 10,300 2000s: 18,141 2010s: 14,957 2020s (through 2020s data available): 6,218 Global whaling peaked in the 1960s, with over 700,000 whales killed in that decade alone. Since the 1986 International Whaling Commission moratorium on commercial whaling, catches have fallen by more than 98% from their peak. Source: Rocha, Clapham & Ivashchenko (2014), "Emptying the Oceans: A Summary of Industrial Whaling Catches in the 20th Century," Marine Fisheries Review; International Whaling Commission (2026). Data pre-1990 covers industrial whaling only; data from 1990 onward (IWC) includes aboriginal subsistence whaling.