Iran more than doubled executions in 2025, global death penalty hit 44-year high
Iran executed more than twice as many people last year as it did in 2024, according to a new report by Amnesty International.
Updated on: May 18, 2026 / 7:18 PM EDT / CBS News
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.