Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia carried out most executions in 2024 as global figures surge to highest in 9 years

Amnesty International reports highest global executions in a decade, with Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia leading the way.

The number of people known to have been executed last year was the highest in almost a decade, with Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia responsible for most executions, Amnesty International said on Tuesday (April 8, 2025).

A total of 1,518 executions were recorded worldwide in 2024, the most since 2015 when 1,634 people were killed, the rights group said in its annual report on death sentences.

The figures represent a 32% increase in known executions compared to 2023.

They do not include thousands of people believed to have been executed in China -- the world’s leading executioner -- as well as in North Korea and Vietnam, Amnesty said.

“The death penalty is an abhorrent crime with no place in today’s world,” said Amnesty’s secretary-general, Agnes Callamard.

The non-governmental organisation found that for the second year in a row the number of countries executing citizens remained the lowest on record at 15.

It said that Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia were responsible for 91% of known executions last year, with increases in death sentences in all three countries spurring the global rise.