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-1800s, many countries have abolished or discontinued the practice. In 2024, the five countries that are known to have executed the most people were, in descending order, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Yemen.
The 193 United Nations member states and the 2 observer states fall into four categories based on their use of capital punishment. :
  • 30 actively retain capital punishment.
  • 45 retain capital punishment but have not used it in at least ten years.
  • 10 retain capital punishment only in extraordinary circumstances.
  • 110 have fully abolished capital punishment.
In addition, the non-UN member state Kosovo has fully abolished capital punishment, whereas the non-UN member state Taiwan actively retains capital punishment.
From 2010 to 2019, 5 countries were recorded to have executed offenders who were minors when the offence was committed, which is a breach of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This ended in 2020 by royal decree in Saudi Arabia.

Global overview

Africa

Of the 54 UN member states located within Africa, 24 have fully abolished capital punishment, 4 retain capital punishment only in extraordinary circumstances, 21 retain capital punishment but have not used it in at least ten years, and 5 actively retain capital punishment.
In 2018, Burkina Faso repealed capital punishment for ordinary crimes, and Gambia announced a moratorium as a first step towards abolition. Sierra Leone fully abolished capital punishment in 2021, as did the Central African Republic in 2022, followed by Zambia in 2023. For ordinary crimes, Equatorial Guinea abolished it in 2022, Ghana did so in 2023, and Zimbabwe abolished it in 2024.

Americas

Of the 35 UN member states located within the Americas, 16 have fully abolished capital punishment, 5 retain capital punishment only in extraordinary circumstances, 13 retain capital punishment but have not used it in at least ten years, and 1 actively retains capital punishment.
Since 2008, the United States has been the only country in the Americas to carry out executions and the only country considered to actively retain capital punishment. In the Caribbean, capital punishment has only been fully abolished by the Dominican Republic and Haiti. All other Caribbean countries are considered abolitionists-in-practice. In Central and South America, capital punishment has mostly been fully abolished, with the exceptions of Guatemala, El Salvador, Brazil, Peru, and Chile, which retain capital punishment in extraordinary circumstances, and Belize and Guyana, which are both considered abolitionists-in-practice. In North America, the United States is the only country that has not fully abolished capital punishment; though 23 states have fully abolished capital punishment, 7 states are under moratoria, 4 states are not under moratoria but have not executed death sentences in over ten years, and 16 actively retain capital punishment.

Asia

Of the 47 UN member states and 1 UN observer state located within Asia, 15 have fully abolished capital punishment, 1 retains capital punishment only in extraordinary circumstances, 9 retain capital punishment but have not used it in at least ten years, and 23 actively retain capital punishment.
China is the world's most prolific executioner; according to Amnesty International, China executes more people than the rest of the world combined each year, but this does not apply in Hong Kong and Macau, since both special administrative regions have abolished capital punishment.
India occasionally executes criminals, carrying out just 30 executions from 1991 to 2020. India most recently executed 4 perpetrators of a gang rape and murder case in March 2020.
Japan sometimes executes criminals, carrying out 134 executions since 1993. Japan most recently executed Takahiro Shiraishi in June 2025.
According to a 2017 report by the National Human Rights Commission from Burma, over 700 prisoners had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment.
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, and Tangaraju Suppiah who was hanged in April 2023. 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. 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.
Indonesia occasionally executes prisoners, and while it has rarely done so in cases of murder, Indonesia has some of the most stringent narcotics laws in the world, so it is often used for drug traffickers. In June 2025, a trial for three British citizens, following a deal to trade approximately one kilogram of cocaine, sees the accused potentially facing capital punishment.

Europe

Of the 43 UN member states and 1 UN observer state located within Europe, 42 have fully abolished capital punishment, 0 retain capital punishment only in extraordinary circumstances, 1 retains capital punishment but has not used it in at least ten years, and 1 actively retains capital punishment.
The European Union holds a strong position against capital punishment; its abolition is a key objective for the Union's human rights policy. Abolition is a pre-condition for membership in the European Union. In Europe, only Belarus continues to actively use capital punishment.
Capital punishment has been completely abolished in all European countries except for Belarus and Russia, the latter of which has a moratorium and has not conducted an execution since 1996. The absolute ban on capital punishment is enshrined in both the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and two widely adopted protocols of the European Convention on Human Rights of the Council of Europe, and is thus considered a central value. Of all present European countries, San Marino, Portugal and the Netherlands were the first to abolish capital punishment; Romania banned it even earlier in 1864, but it was later reintroduced from 1936 to 1990 during the dictatorial and communist eras; in Italy the nationwide ban on capital punishment dates from 1889, but it was then reintroduced during the fascist regime. The last execution in the United Kingdom took place in England in 1964, however the last sentence was passed nine years later. In 2012, Latvia became the most recent European country to abolish capital punishment.

Post-Soviet states

Russia retains the death penalty in law, but there has been a moratorium since 1996, making it de facto abolitionist. The last executions on Russian territory were carried out in 1999 in Chechnya, "which de facto was not then under control of the Russian Federation". Of the other former Soviet republics, only Belarus and Tajikistan have not formally abolished capital punishment, and only Belarus uses it in practice. In 2000, Ukraine abolished capital punishment.

Oceania

Of the 14 UN member states located within Asia, 13 have fully abolished capital punishment, 0 retain capital punishment only in extraordinary circumstances, 1 retains capital punishment but has not used it in at least ten years, and 0 actively retain capital punishment.
The last UN member state that has not yet fully abolished capital punishment is Tonga, which has not used it since 1982 and is therefore an abolitionist-in-practice.

Human Development Index

There are 65 sovereign states with a very high human development according to the 2021/2022 Human Development Report. Of these:
Singapore has the highest Human Development Index of all the countries that retain capital punishment, while Japan has both the highest inequality-adjusted HDI and the highest planetary pressures–adjusted HDI.

Advanced economies

As of 2022, 33 of the 37 UN member states that are classified by the IMF as advanced economies have fully abolished capital punishment. The United States, Japan, and Singapore actively retain capital punishment and Israel retains capital punishment crimes only in extraordinary circumstances.

Executions in 2024

Fifteen UN member states were recorded to have performed executions in 2024:Americas : United States Asia : China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Yemen, Singapore, Kuwait, Oman, Afghanistan, North Korea, Syria, Vietnam Africa : Somalia, Egypt
Precise numbers are unavailable for some countries, so the total number of executions is unknown.

Capital punishment by continents

Africa

There are 54 United Nations member states in Africa. Of these:
  • 5 actively retain capital punishment.
  • 21 retain capital punishment in law but have not used it in at least ten years.
  • 4 retain capital punishment only in extraordinary circumstances.
  • 24 have fully abolished capital punishment.
The countries in Africa that most recently abolished the death penalty are Zambia, Central African Republic, and Sierra Leone.
Executions in Africa in 2019: Botswana, Egypt, Somalia, South Sudan.
KeyCountryLast executionExecutions 2019Year abolishedNotes
AlgeriaMain|Capital punishment in Algeria

Americas

There are 35 United Nations member states in the Americas. Of these:
  • 1 actively retain capital punishment.
  • 13 retain capital punishment in law but have not used it in at least ten years.
  • 5 retain capital punishment only in extraordinary circumstances.
  • 16 have fully abolished capital punishment.
Many Caribbean countries have carried out no executions for over 10 years, but are not believed to have an abolitionist policy or established practice.
As of 2024, the United States is the only country in the Americas to conduct executions for civil purposes. Capital punishment applies nationwide on the federal level, for certain federal crimes, and in the military. However, most capital crimes are prosecuted at the state level. Twenty-three of the fifty states and the federal district have abolished capital punishment entirely. Five states and the federal government have imposed formal moratoriums, and three of them are classifiable as "abolitionist in practice" according to the United Nations criteria, having passed a period of over ten years without executions.
Outside of the United States, the last execution elsewhere in the Americas was in Saint Kitts and Nevis in 2008.
The countries in the Americas that most recently abolished the death penalty are Suriname, Argentina, and Bolivia. Guatemala abolished the death penalty for civil cases in 2017.
Executions in the Americas in 2019: United States.
KeyCountryLast executionExecutions 2019Year abolishedNotes
Antigua and Barbuda

Asia

There are 47 United Nations member states in Asia, and 1 observer state. Of these:
  • 23 actively retain capital punishment.
  • 9 retain capital punishment in law but have not used it in at least ten years.
  • 1 retain capital punishment only in extraordinary circumstances.
  • 15 have fully abolished capital punishment.
The information above does not include Taiwan, which is not a UN member state. Taiwan practises capital punishment by shooting, and conducted one execution each in 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2025.
On 25 July 2022, because of Myanmar's civil war between the military junta and the civilian government it overthrew, the junta carried out executions making them the first executions since 1988, making the country retentionist in areas controlled by the Tatmadaw. Under the civilian government and in areas controlled by it the country continues to be abolitionist in practice.
Iraq also has a regional variety of retentionism and abolitionism, as Iraqi Kurdistan is de facto abolitionist due to a moratorium that has been in place since 2007. The rest of Iraq is retentionist.
Indonesia has an informal moratorium and Malaysia a formal one, both in place since 2018. In April 2023, legislation abolishing the mandatory death penalty was passed in Malaysia.
The countries in Asia that most recently abolished capital punishment are Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Uzbekistan.
In 2019, Asia had the world's five leading executioners: China, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam. Executions in Asia took place in 2019 in the following countries: Bahrain, Bangladesh, China, Iran, Japan, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Syria, Vietnam, Yemen.
KeyCountryLast executionExecutions 2019Year abolishedNotes
Main|Capital punishment in Afghanistan

Europe

There are 43 United Nations member states in Europe, and 1 observer state. Of these:
  • 1 actively retain capital punishment.
  • 1 retain capital punishment in law but have not used it in at least ten years.
  • 0 retain capital punishment only in extraordinary circumstances.
  • 42 have fully abolished capital punishment.
These figures do not include Kosovo which is fully abolitionistic but is not a UN member state.
The abolition of capital punishment is a pre-condition for European Union membership, which considers capital punishment a "cruel and inhuman" practice and "has not been shown in any way to act as a deterrent to crime".
Since 1997, Belarus has been the only UN member state in Europe to carry out executions. 2009, 2015, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024, and 2025 are the first six years in recorded history during which Europe has been completely free of executions.
The countries in Europe that most recently abolished capital punishment are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Latvia, and Albania.
Executions in Europe in 2019: Belarus.
KeyCountryLast executionExecutions 2019Year abolishedNotes
AlbaniaMain|Capital punishment in Albania

Oceania

There are 14 member states of the United Nations in Oceania. Of these:
  • 1 permits its use for ordinary crimes, but has not used it for at least 10 years and is believed to have a policy or established practice of not carrying out executions.
  • 13 have completely abolished it.
  • 0 actively retain capital punishment.
  • 1 retain capital punishment in law but have not used it in at least ten years.
  • 0 retain capital punishment only in extraordinary circumstances.
  • 13 have fully abolished capital punishment.
Only Tonga has not formally abolished capital punishment despite not using the practice since 1982.
The countries in Oceania that most recently abolished the death penalty are Papua New Guinea, Nauru, and Fiji.
KeyCountryLast executionExecutions 2019Year abolishedNotes
AustraliaMain|Capital punishment in Australia

Abolition chronology

The table below lists in chronological order the 110 UN member or observer states that have completely abolished the death penalty. In the century after the abolition of capital punishment by Venezuela in 1863, only 11 more countries followed, not counting temporary abolitions that were later reversed. From the 1960s onwards, abolition accelerated: 4 countries abolished capital punishment in the 1960s, 11 in the 1970s, and 10 in the 1980s. After the Cold War, many more countries followed: 36 countries abolished capital punishment in the 1990s, with 9 in 1990 alone, 23 in the 2000s, 11 in the 2010s, and 7 so far in the 2020s. Since 1985, there have been only 7 years when no country has abolished the death penalty: 2001, 2003, 2011, 2013, 2018, 2024 and 2025.
When a country has abolished, reinstated, and re-abolished only the later abolition date is included. Countries which have abolished and since reinstated it and are yet to abolish it again are excluded altogether. Dependent territories are considered being under the jurisdiction of their parent country – which leads to unexpectedly late abolition dates for the UK, New Zealand and the Netherlands, where Jersey, the Cook Islands, and the Netherlands Antilles, were the last territories of those states to abolish capital punishment, and all were later than the abolitions on the respective mainlands. References are in the continental tables above and not repeated here. Federal countries such as the United States where it has not been abolished everywhere do not appear, even if some jurisdictions in that country have abolished the death penalty.
Year abolishedCountryCountries per yearRunning total
1863Venezuela