The use of the death penalty still persists in many countries, despite the global trend towards abolishing it. According to recent reports, the number of executions has been on the rise worldwide, sparking concerns among human rights organizations.
In 2022, 55 countries still had the death penalty, with nine of them imposing it only for the most serious crimes such as multiple killing or war crimes. Additionally, Amnesty International recorded at least 883 executions globally in the same year, marking the highest number since 2017.
China is believed to be the world’s leading executioner, with thousands of people being put to death every year. However, due to the lack of transparency in China’s reporting on the use of the death penalty, the exact number of executions remains unknown.
The organization also reported that at least 2,016 death sentences were imposed in 2022 across 52 countries, with a global estimate of 28,282 people under sentence of death at the end of the year. Many of these individuals spend years, or even decades, on death row before facing execution.
The countries with the highest number of executions in 2022, apart from China, were Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United States. Iran notably carried out at least three public executions and executed at least five individuals for offenses committed when they were under 18 years old.
Amnesty International also highlighted 11 countries that persistently execute people every year, including China, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the US, Vietnam, and Yemen. This report further emphasized that the death penalty is being used for drug offenses, with 325 executions worldwide in 2022, including 255 in Iran, 57 in Saudi Arabia, and 11 in Singapore.