Death penalties by country
In 93 countries, there is a death penalty imposed by law. Of these, 8 countries apply the death penalty only to particularly serious crimes such as, war crimes. It has also been discontinued in 28 countries for at least 10 years - although there can still be penalties with pending executions.In 2019 alone, 3300 people were sentenced to death and at least 1671 were actually executed. In addition, there is a larger number of unreported cases from individual countries, which cannot be estimated due to government restrictions.
Death penalties by country in 2019
no death penaltyonly on serious crimes
death penatly abolished in practice
death penalty imposed and enforced
The following table contains the countries where a death penalty was legally possible in 2019. All data are provided by Amnesty International, where only registered and evaluated cases have been listed.
| Country | Status | Executions | Death sentences |
|---|---|---|---|
| Afghanistan | active | 0 | 14 |
| Algeria | abolished in practice | 0 | 4 |
| Antigua and Barbuda | active | 0 | 0 |
| Bahamas | active | 0 | 0 |
| Bahrain | active | 3 | 4 |
| Bangladesh | active | 2 | 220 |
| Barbados | active | 0 | 0 |
| Belarus | active | 2 | 3 |
| Belize | active | 0 | 0 |
| Botswana | active | 1 | 4 |
| Brazil | only for serious crimes | 0 | 0 |
| Brunei | abolished in practice | 0 | 0 |
| Burkina Faso | only for serious crimes | 0 | 0 |
| Burma | abolished in practice | 0 | 4 |
| Cameroon | abolished in practice | 0 | 0 |
| Central African Republic | abolished in practice | 0 | 0 |
| Chad | active | 0 | 0 |
| Chile | only for serious crimes | 0 | 0 |
| China* | active | 1,000+ | 1,000+ |
| Comoros | active | 0 | 0 |
| Cuba | active | 0 | 0 |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | active | 0 | 8 |
| Dominica (2016) | active | 0 | 0 |
| Egypt | active | 32 | 435 |
| El Salvador | only for serious crimes | 0 | 0 |
| Equatorial Guinea | active | 0 | 0 |
| Eritrea | abolished in practice | 0 | 0 |
| Ethiopia | active | 0 | 0 |
| Gambia | active | 0 | 1 |
| Ghana | abolished in practice | 0 | 8 |
| Grenada | abolished in practice | 0 | 0 |
| Guatemala | only for serious crimes | 0 | 0 |
| Guyana | active | 0 | 2 |
| India | active | 0 | 102 |
| Indonesia | active | 0 | 80 |
| Iran | active | 251 | unknown |
| Iraq | active | 100+ | 87 |
| Israel | only for serious crimes | 0 | 0 |
| Jamaica | active | 0 | 0 |
| Japan | active | 3 | 2 |
| Jordan | active | 0 | 8 |
| Kazakhstan | only for serious crimes | 0 | 0 |
| Kenya | abolished in practice | 0 | 29 |
| Kuwait | active | 0 | 5 |
| Laos | abolished in practice | 0 | 0 |
| Lebanon | active | 0 | 23 |
| Lesotho | active | 0 | 0 |
| Liberia | abolished in practice | 0 | 0 |
| Libya | active | 0 | 0 |
| Malawi | abolished in practice | 0 | 8 |
| Malaysia | active | 0 | 26 |
| Maldives | abolished in practice | 0 | 2 |
| Mali | abolished in practice | 0 | 4 |
| Mauritania | abolished in practice | 0 | 8 |
| Morocco | abolished in practice | 0 | 7 |
| Niger | abolished in practice | 0 | 8 |
| Nigeria | active | 0 | 54 |
| North Korea | active | unknown | unknown |
| Oman | active | 0 | 7 |
| Pakistan | active | 14 | 632 |
| Palestine | active | 0 | 4 |
| Papua New Guinea | abolished in practice | 0 | 0 |
| Peru | only for serious crimes | 0 | 0 |
| Puerto Rico | active | 22 | 35 |
| Qatar | active | 0 | 2 |
| Russia | abolished in practice | 0 | 0 |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis | active | 0 | 0 |
| Saint Lucia | active | 0 | 0 |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | active | 0 | 0 |
| Saudi Arabia | active | 184 | 5 |
| Sierra Leone | abolished in practice | 0 | 21 |
| Singapore | active | 4 | 12 |
| Somalia | active | 12 | 24 |
| South Korea | abolished in practice | 0 | 1 |
| South Sudan | active | 11 | 4 |
| Sri Lanka | abolished in practice | 0 | 34 |
| Sudan | active | 1 | 31 |
| Swaziland | abolished in practice | 0 | 0 |
| Syria | active | unknown | unknown |
| Taiwan | active | 0 | 2 |
| Tajikistan | abolished in practice | 0 | 0 |
| Tanzania | abolished in practice | 0 | 4 |
| Thailand | active | 0 | 16 |
| Tonga | abolished in practice | 0 | 0 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | active | 0 | 8 |
| Tunisia | abolished in practice | 0 | 39 |
| Uganda | active | 0 | 2 |
| United Arab Emirates | active | 0 | 18 |
| United States | active | 22 | 35 |
| Vietnam | active | unknown | 76 |
| Yemen | active | 7 | 55 |
| Zambia | abolished in practice | 0 | 101 |
| Zimbabwe | active | 0 | 6 |
* Note on China
The data for China correspond to those of Anmesty International, but at the same time it is pointed out that these are only of a symbolic nature. Due to the secrecy of the actual case figures, it is not possible to give correct values. Amnesty International and other human rights organisations speak of several thousand executions per year.
Types of executions
Executions always depend on the laws of the country in question. The most common species since the turn of the millennium:- Electric chair (mainly in the USA)
- Decapitation (mainly in Saudi Arabia)
- Hanging (mainly Muslim countries, as well as Japan and Singapore)
- Shooting (USA, China, North Korea, Somalia, Vietnam, etc.)
- Stoning to death (due to the Islamic Sharia in Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia)
- Lethal injection or gas chamber (China, USA, Thailand, etc.)