The humble selfie has developed into something so popular the word has made it into the dictionary. But it turns out the selfie photo craze isn't quite so harmless, in fact it's killing more people than sharks.

Despite being thought of as one of the most perfect killers on the planet, the shark has failed to toll up a human death count as high as selfies have.

In 2015, so far, sharks have claimed eight human lives. Selfies have managed to kill a total of 12 people.

How can a selfie kill? In a variation of ways it would seem. Four of those deaths have been due to falling while lining up for the photo. Recently a 66-year old Japanese man fell down a set of stairs at the Taj Mahal while trying to take a selfie and tragically didn't survive.

The next most common cause of death was being hit by trains from either posing near tracks or with dangerous equipment.

READ: Selfie kills man with gunshot pose

A man died while posing for a selfie a few months back after lining up a photo with a handgun. The gun went off while the 21-year old Mexican man was pointing it at his head after drinking with friends.

So bad is the selfie crisis that some public attractions are banning them in some forms. Disney has already announced that selfie sticks are not permitted inside the grounds of its parks. Bull run and bear parks have also begun banning selfies to cut down on risk of death.

READ: Disney wants you to ditch the selfie stick before visiting its theme parks