Brazil Lightning Bolts Set Shocking World Record RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Tropical Brazil is the country most often struck by lightning in the world and it suffers the highest death toll and serious economic damage from electric thunderstorms, according to new research reported on Tuesday. Osmar Pinto, a researcher with the Atmospheric Electricity Group of the Brazilian Institute for Space Studies who mapped lightning incidence using satellite data, said the country was struck by 70 million lightning bolts a year, or between two and three electric discharges per second. "That is about double the amount of lightning in the United States, which is approximately the same size as Brazil," Pinto told Reuters. Brazil is the world's biggest tropical country, and electric thunderstorms are more common in the tropics. Each year, about 100 people die in Latin America's largest country after being hit by lightning bolts. The total makes up some 10% of all lightning-related deaths in the world. Thunderbolts also inflict up to $200 million in annual damage to power and telecommunications lines, other companies and private property. Pinto said 70% of frequent power blackouts across Brazil resulted from lightning. Mapping the areas with the highest incidence of atmospheric electricity discharges should help protect installations in the most-affected regions, he said.