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Capital punishment by country

Capital punishment, also called the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as a punishment for a crime. It has historically been used in almost every part of the world. Since the mid-19th century many countries have abolished or discontinued the practice.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] In 2022, the 5 countries that executed the most people were, in descending order, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United States.[8]

The 193 United Nations member states and 2 observer states fall into 4 categories based on their use of capital punishment. As of 2024:[9]


Since 1990, at least 11 countries have executed offenders who were minors (under the age of 18 or 21) at the time the crime was committed, which is a breach of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by all countries but the United States. These are China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, Sudan, the United States, and Yemen.[11][12][13] In the United States, this ended in 2005 with the Supreme Court case Roper v. Simmons, in Nigeria in 2015 by law,[14] and in Saudi Arabia in 2020 by royal decree.[15]

Global overview[edit]

Africa[edit]

In Africa, many countries maintain the death penalty in law. Some such countries, such as Algeria and Cameroon, have moratoriums and have not used it for over a decade, making them abolitionist in practice. In Nigeria, some states are de facto abolitionist while others are retentionist.


In 2018, Burkina Faso repealed the death penalty for civilian crimes, and the Gambia announced a moratorium as a first step towards abolition.[16] Sierra Leone abolished capital punishment in 2021, as did the Central African Republic in 2022.[17][18][19] For civilian crimes, Equatorial Guinea and Zambia abolished it in 2022, and Ghana did so in 2023.[20]

Americas[edit]

In Caribbean countries, the death penalty exists at least de jure, except in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which abolished it in 1969 and 1987, respectively. Grenada is abolitionist in practice; its last execution was in 1978. The last execution in the Caribbean, and the last in the Americas outside the United States, was in Saint Kitts and Nevis, in 2008. In Central and South America, the death penalty exists in Belize and Guyana, though it has not been used since 1985 and 1997. In Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Peru, executions are legal in some circumstances, such as war crimes, and were abolished for civil crimes. In 1976, Canada abolished the death penalty for non-military offences; in 1999, it abolished it for military offences. In 2005, Mexico abolished the death penalty; in 2009 Argentina abolished it.

Asia[edit]

China is the world's most active user of the death penalty; according to Amnesty International, China executes more people than the rest of the world combined, each year.[21] In December 2015, Mongolia repealed the death penalty for all crimes,[22] and in June 2022, Kazakhstan abolished it completely.[23]


India rarely executes criminals, carrying out just 30 executions since 1991.[24] India most recently executed 4 perpetrators of a gang rape and murder case in March 2020.[25]


Japan sometimes executes criminals, carrying out 130 executions since 1993. Japan most recently executed Tomohiro Katō in July 2022.[26]


According to a 2017 report by the National Human Rights Commission from Myanmar, over 700 prisoners in 26 prisons across the country had death sentences commuted to life imprisonment.[27]


Singapore resumed executions in March 2022 after a two-year moratorium due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Singapore came under scrutiny for executing drug traffickers in several high-profile cases, including Nagaenthran Dharmalingam who was hanged in April 2022,[28] and Tangaraju Suppiah who was hanged in April 2023.[29] In July 2023, a convicted drug trafficker named Saridewi binte Djamani was executed, becoming the first female offender hanged in Singapore in 19 years, after the 2004 hanging of Yen May Woen.[30] Singapore's first execution for murder since 2019 was carried out in February 2024, when Bangladeshi painter Ahmed Salim was hanged for murdering his ex-girlfriend in 2018.[31]

Capital punishment by continents[edit]

Africa[edit]

There are 54 United Nations member states in Africa. Of these:

List of countries by incarceration rate

List of most recent executions by jurisdiction

American Convention on Human Rights

European Convention on Human Rights

Life imprisonment

Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Corporal punishment

Amnesty International

The Death Penalty Worldwide

– United Nations, 14 July 2005

Countries retaining death penalty fail to give details of executions

Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

European Convention on Human Rights - Protocol 13

American Convention on Human Rights - Protocol to Abolish the Death Penalty

Death Penalty in Asia-Pacific

Monthly updates of world-wide executions

(results may vary)

Hands Off Cain

Abolition UK

Academic research database on the laws, practice, and statistics of capital punishment for every death penalty country in the world.

Death Penalty Worldwide