The number of executions recorded worldwide increased massively last year, particularly due to the executions in Iran.
May 18, 2026, 02:01May 18, 2026, 3:48 am
The human rights organization Amnesty recorded at least 2,707 executions in 17 countries in 2025 – more than in 44 years. The organization estimates the number of unreported cases to be significantly higher, especially because of how the death penalty is handled in China.
«The death penalty is the most extreme form of state violence: it is inhumane, final and leaves no room for error or justice. The fact that governments are still relying on this shows a shocking disregard for the right to life,” says Julia Duchrow, Secretary General of Amnesty Germany. At least 1,518 executions were recorded in 2024.
The significant increase is primarily caused by Iran, where at least 2,159 people were executed, Amnesty said. The Iranian authorities continued to use the death penalty “as a weapon (…) to spread fear among the population” and punish those who challenged the system. This year, following the mass protests in January, several people have already been executed in Iran during the war against the USA and Israel.
According to information, Iran, like Egypt and Singapore, implements the death penalty by hanging. “In Iran we can currently see in the most depressing way how states systematically use the death penalty to silence people, oppress disadvantaged groups and spread fear,” said Duchrow. In 2024, at least 972 cases were documented in Iran.
The use of the death penalty in Iran repeatedly causes protests both nationally and internationally.Image: keystone
Amnesty estimates there are thousands of executions in China
The world’s highest number of executions is carried out in China, Amnesty said – but the actual extent remains unclear because relevant data on executions are “considered a state secret”. The human rights organization puts the estimated number at several thousand. Here too, the death penalty is used “to signal that the state will not tolerate threats to public safety or stability.”
Amnesty recorded 47 executions in the USA, the most since 2009. US President Donald Trump is considered a supporter of the death penalty, which is permitted in more than two dozen of the 50 states. However, in several states it is de facto no longer enforced. Justice Minister Todd Blanche recently spoke out in favor of allowing federal criminals to be executed by shooting in the future.
Officials at the federal level and in individual states spread “inflammatory and erroneous narratives about the death penalty and its alleged impact on crime,” Amnesty said. According to the information, 19 of the 47 people were executed in the US state of Florida alone. The number of death sentences handed down in the US fell from 26 in 2024 to 23 last year.
Drug offenses are punishable by death
With 1,257 of the 2,707 documented cases, almost half of the known executions for drug-related offenses were carried out in China, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Iran. Amnesty sharply criticizes the fact that other countries are also pushing ahead with legislative proposals to make drug crimes punishable by the death penalty.
However, the death penalty may only be imposed for the “most serious crimes”. “The death penalty always violates human dignity at its core. But executing people for crimes such as drug offenses is also a clear breach of international law,” said Duchrow. “This practice is not only illegal, but also deeply inhumane.”
Drug offenses are a central reason for the imposition of death sentences.Image: keystone
The report also lists the new Israeli law from this year, which stipulates that terrorist-motivated murder with the aim of destroying the State of Israel can be punishable by the death penalty or life imprisonment. In Israeli military courts in the Palestinian territories, the death penalty is even mandatory in such cases. The law is still being reviewed by Israel’s highest court. Critics see the law as racist because it de facto only affects Palestinians.
Despite the significant increase, Amnesty also points to progress through “increasing isolation of states that continue to use the death penalty”. In Belarus, 2025 will be the first time since President Alexander Lukashenko took office in 1994 that neither a new death sentence has been imposed nor one carried out. The total number of countries is not increasing, but remains in the “low annual values” since 2018 of a maximum of 20 countries.
113 countries have the death penalty for all crimes. «More than half of all countries in the world. There is a growing realization worldwide that the death penalty is cruel, discriminatory and ineffective – and therefore must no longer have a place in our time,” said Duchrow. (sda/dpa/fwa)