Executions around the world declined by 22% last year, accord­ing to Amnesty International​’s 2014 annu­al report on death sen­tences and exe­cu­tions. The report — released on April 1 — indi­cates that an esti­mat­ed 607 peo­ple were exe­cut­ed world­wide in 2014, com­pared to 778 in 2013. The glob­al totals do not include exe­cu­tions in China, where data on the death penal­ty is con­sid­ered a state secret. On a region­al lev­el, Amnesty report­ed notable declines in Sub-Saharan Africa, where both the total num­ber of exe­cu­tions and the num­ber of coun­tries car­ry­ing out exe­cu­tions dropped. The num­ber of death sen­tences imposed world­wide increased com­pared to 2013, with 2,466 peo­ple sen­tenced to death. This increase was attrib­ut­able to actions in Egypt and Nigeria, in which mass sen­tenc­ings occurred and death sen­tences rose by more than 900. The total num­ber of death sen­tences imposed in the rest of the world actu­al­ly decreased com­pared to 2013. The United States was the only coun­try in the Americas to car­ry out any exe­cu­tions, though the num­ber of exe­cu­tions dropped to its low­est lev­el in 20 years. The United States had the fifth most exe­cu­tions of any coun­try, behind China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq. (Click image to enlarge.)

(“Death Sentences and Executions 2014,” Amnesty International, April 1, 2015.) See International and Studies.

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