If deadly snakes weren’t already enough to worry about, shark attacks off Australia’s coastlines have doubled over the past 20 years.

This is the finding of a new study which analysed data gathered from the Florida Museum of Natural History's International Shark Attack File between 1960 to 2015.

Lead study author Stephen Midway said the worldwide statistical analysis of shark attacks examined encounters in 14 countries and further investigated specific regions within three countries that had the highest number of shark attacks – the US, Australia and South Africa.

Great Whites are one of the leading culprits for attacks. (PR IMAGE)

"I was curious what the likelihood of shark attacks is in a certain number of years at different places around the world," he said in a statement.

"While shark attacks are often reported in numbers we factored in the regional human populations to determine the rate of shark attacks worldwide.

“I think this information could contribute to a more scientifically grounded discussion about sharks in general and help with the management and conservation of them."

While statistics show attacks off Australian coastlines have doubled, Mr Midway stresses the likelihood of an attack was still extremely low.

"As development increases along the coast and in beach communities, more residents and tourists frequent these waters. With more people in the water, the chance for a shark attack increases,” he said.

“However, I must stress the fact that not all places across the globe saw an increase. And even in the places where we saw an increase, the chances were still one in several million."

Bull, tiger and white sharks were the most dominant species of sharks attributed to attacks, with surfing and swimming the common activities to happen before an attack.

While alarming, Mr Midway said people should not avoid heading the beach for a swim.

"We ought to think of the risk of a shark attack like we would think of the risk of a car accident," she said.

"For example, we don't assess our personal risk of getting into a car accident by the national statistics on car accidents year over year. We think about our specific car, the weather, the road conditions and other very local factors."

Study co-author George Burgess echoed the sentiments.

"Humans have always demonised sharks because they are elusive and live in an environment that's not native to us - the sea," he said.