STUDIES: Amnesty Reports Executions Occurred in Only 11% of Countries Worldwide in 2013

Amnesty International recent­ly released its annu­al report on cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment around the world, not­ing, ​“Developments in the world­wide use of the death penal­ty in 2013 con­firmed that its appli­ca­tion is con­fined to a small minor­i­ty of coun­tries.” As illus­trat­ed in the chart at left, over the past decade there has been an increase in the num­ber of coun­tries abol­ish­ing the death penal­ty and a decrease in coun­tries car­ry­ing out exe­cu­tions. Because exe­cu­tions in China remain a state secret, Amnesty was not able to deter­mine the num­ber of exe­cu­tions world­wide. Of the known exe­cu­tions, almost 80% occurred in just three coun­tries: Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. Twenty-two coun­tries record­ed exe­cu­tions last year. No exe­cu­tions were car­ried out in Europe or Central Asia. The United States remained the only coun­try in the Americas to car­ry out exe­cu­tions and had the fifth most exe­cu­tions of any coun­try in the world. (Information from Syria and Egypt could not be confirmed.)

(“Death Sentences and Executions 2013,” Amnesty International, released March 27, 2014). See International and Studies.