Three-quarters of the world has abolished the death penalty in law or in practice, according to Amnesty International.
Published On ۱۲ Aug ۲۰۲۶
Lebanon has become the first country in the Middle East to abolish the death penalty.
On Tuesday, a majority of the ۱۲۸-member parliament voted in favour of scrapping capital punishment. Death sentences will be replaced with life imprisonment with aggravated hard labour.
Lebanon has observed an unofficial moratorium on executions since January ۲۰۰۴, but its courts have continued to issue dozens of death sentences.
At the end of ۲۰۲۵, ۸۵ people were facing death sentences, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Justice’s Directorate of Prisons.
Which countries still have the death penalty?
According to the latest Amnesty International report on death sentences and executions, as of December, close to three-quarters of the world’s countries had abolished the death penalty in law or practice, meaning they have not carried out executions for the past ۱۰ years.
Some countries have abolished the death penalty for “ordinary crimes” only, which refers to exceptional crimes such as those committed under military law or those committed in exceptional circumstances
Overall, this includes:
- Abolition for all crimes: ۱۱۳ countries
- Abolition for ordinary crimes only: nine countries
- Abolition in practice: ۲۳ countries
- Retention: ۵۴ countries
The map below highlights where each country stands on capital punishment:
Amnesty International’s monitoring of worldwide use of the death penalty recorded ۲,۷۰۷ executions in ۲۰۲۵, up ۷۸ percent from ۱,۵۱۸ in ۲۰۲۴. Amnesty attributed that spike primarily to executions in Iran, which more than doubled from ۹۷۲ in ۲۰۲۴ to at least ۲,۱۵۹ in ۲۰۲۵.
Amnesty’s figures exclude what it says are thousands of executions that have been carried out in China. Executions were carried out in ۱۷ countries, consistent with the historical lows seen since ۲۰۱۸.
