Iran doubled executions in 2025 as global use of the death penalty hit 44-year high

The use of the death penalty skyrocketed last year, with documented executions reaching a worldwide high not seen since 1981, a new report found. A majority of the increase came from Iran, where the annual execution rate doubled, according to the report by human rights organization Amnesty International.

At least 2,707 people were executed globally in 2025, the report said, although it acknowledged the overall count was likely much higher. Amnesty International said thousands of additional executions are believed to have taken place in China, but any concrete information about them could not be verified because of the country’s secrecy surrounding its death penalty practices.

Excluding China, the overall number of documented executions still marked a 78% increase from the global tally that Amnesty International reported for 2024. Iran was responsible for at least 2,159 executions, the report said, more than double the number from the previous year. 

According to the report, the remaining executions took place in just 16 different countries: Saudi Arabia, with at least 356; Yemen, with at least 51; the United States, with 47; Egypt, with 23; Somalia, with at least 17; Kuwait, with 17; Singapore, with 17; Afghanistan, with 6; the United Arab Emirates, with 3; and Japan, South Sudan and Taiwan, with one each. 

Amnesty International said it was also able to corroborate executions or death sentences in Iraq, North Korea and Vietnam, “but had insufficient information to provide a credible minimum figure.” Like China, Vietnam classifies its use of the death penalty as a state secret, and restrictive state reporting practices in Belarus, Laos and North Korea meant “little or no information was available” regarding executions in 2025, the organization said.

While Iran’s recorded use of the death penalty far outpaced those of other countries with definitive numbers listed in the report, several had notably higher figures last year than in previous years. Saudi Arabia’s executions in 2025 exceeded what was a record high set in 2024, as the country has increasingly sentenced people to death for drug-related offenses, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a U.S.-based research organization that provides data on capital punishment. 

Meanwhile, according to Amnesty International, executions nearly tripled in Kuwait between 2024 and 2025, and nearly doubled in Egypt, Singapore and the U.S., which had its busiest year for the death penalty since 2009. Experts told CBS News in November that the reasons for such a steep uptick within the U.S. were multifaceted, but that it was at least partly driven by political pressure.

Japan, South Sudan, Taiwan and the UAE all resumed executions last year, contributing to the higher global total.

The new report emphasized that, despite the surge in executions around the world, the countries most responsible “remain an isolated minority.” China, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Vietnam, Yemen and the U.S. are the same 10 nations that have consistently put people to death over the last five years, and Amnesty International said those countries have “shown disregard for safeguards established under international human rights law and standards.”

“This alarming spike in the use of the death penalty is due to a small, isolated group of states willing to carry out executions at all costs, despite the continued global trend towards abolition,” Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary general, said in a statement. “From China, Iran, North Korea and Saudi Arabia to Yemen, Kuwait, Singapore and the USA, this shameless minority are weaponizing the death penalty to instill fear, crush dissent and show the strength state institutions have over disadvantaged people and marginalized communities.”

Polling data indicates that regional views on the death penalty vary widely, although surveys conducted in the U.S., the United Kingdom and parts of Europe indicate declining support in recent decades. As of 2026, more than 70% of countries around the world have abolished capital punishment either legally or in practice, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.