Source: Africa Publicity
Human rights group, Amnesty International, has reported that at least 2,707 persons were executed across 17 countries around the world in 2025.
In its annual report on the global use of the death penalty released on Monday, May 18, 2026, Amnesty described the figure as the highest recorded since it started tracking executions in 1981.
According to the report, the Islamic Republic of Iran was responsible for the vast majority of the executions in 2025.
The report revealed that Iranian authorities carried out at least 2,159 executions in 2025, more than double the figure recorded the previous year and by far the largest contributor to the global rise.
Amnesty International Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, was quoted in the report as saying “A shameless minority are weaponizing the death penalty to instill fear, crush dissent and punish marginalized communities.”
Drug-related executions drove increase
A resurgence of punitive anti-drug policies, Amnesty says, fueled much of the increase in executions globally.
It says nearly half of all known executions in 2025 – 1,257 cases – were linked to drug-related offenses, including in Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Kuwait.
Iran accounted for 998 of those executions, the highest number among countries identified in the report.
According to Amnesty, Saudi Arabia carried out at least 356 executions in 2025 and made extensive use of capital punishment in drug-related cases.
The organization also reported increases in executions in several other countries, with Kuwait nearly tripling its total from six to 17 executions.
Egypt’s number rose from 13 to 23, Singapore’s from nine to 17 and the United States from 25 to 47.
The report did not include the thousands of executions Amnesty believes continued to take place in China, which it said remained the world’s leading executioner.
Executing states remain minority
Despite the sharp rise in executions, Amnesty said countries carrying out the death penalty remained “an isolated minority.”
China, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, the United States, Vietnam and Yemen have all carried out executions every year for the past five years, the report revealed.
Four countries resumed executions in 2025 – Japan, South Sudan, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates – bringing the total number of executing states to 17.
“It’s time for executing countries to step into line with the rest of the world and leave this abhorrent practice in the past,” Callamard said.
Amnesty highlights abolition efforts
The global trend toward abolishing the death penalty nevertheless continued, Amnesty stated.
When the organization began campaigning against capital punishment in 1977, only 16 countries had abolished it. That number has now risen to 113, according to the report.
