Death Penalty
This map shows the status of the death penalty around the world. Retentionist countries have carried out at least one execution in the past ten years. De facto abolitionist countries have not carried out any executions in over ten years, but retain the death penalty in law. Countries that are abolitionist for common law crimes apply the death penalty only in times of war or other extraordinary circumstances. Abolitionist countries have eliminated the death penalty from their laws.
Abolitionist
Abolitionist for common law crimes
De facto abolitionist
Retentionist
According to the best available reports, these are the countries that carried out the highest number of executions last year.
Every week, we provide updated figures on the number of executions reported this calendar year. Many countries do not officially report executions, so some figures (noted with *) are informed estimates. For a few countries, such as Vietnam and China, we are only able to obtain estimates at the end of the year due to state secrecy around capital punishment. The order of the countries below is our best attempt to reflect the actual ranking of countries that have carried out the most executions this year.
We update global execution figures each Wednesday by 5PM EST. These updated execution numbers may not yet be reflected in individual country reports. We are in the process of redesigning our database, and we thank you for your patience during our transition.
