Status of the Death Penalty Worldwide

Table of contents

Our mission

List of abolitionist countries

List of partial abolitionist countries

List of abolitionist de facto countries

List of retentionist countries

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Our mission

We believe that access to current and accurate information on death penalty practices is vital to inform policy decisions and legal analysis relating to capital punishment. The Database is the centerpiece of our research mandate, providing quick access to data on the practices and laws of individual countries. It permits users to search across jurisdictions to compare state practice in a wide variety of areas and to confront those practices with international human rights standards. The Database’s advanced search capabilities, which are unique among human rights databases, allow users to combine different variables and find answers in a matter of seconds.

This document provides a snapshot of the work we do on our Database. Here, countries are separated into profiles of their death penalty statuses. Our Database has more specialized information on each country, and can be located on our website: https://deathpenaltyworldwide.org/database/.

Map of the world, with countries colored according to the status of the death penalty. There are 109 abolitionist countries, 8 countries that are abolitionist for common law crimes, 45 abolitionist de facto countries, and 36 retentionist countries.

 

List of abolitionist countries (countries whose laws do not provide for the death penalty for any crime):

  1. Albania
  2. Andorra
  3. Angola
  4. Argentina
  5. Armenia
  6. Australia
  7. Austria
  8. Azerbaijan
  9. Belgium
  10. Benin*
  11. Bhutan
  12. Bolivia
  13. Bosnia and Herzegovina
  14. Bulgaria
  15. Burundi
  16. Cabo Verde
  17. Cambodia
  18. Canada
  19. Chad
  20. Congo-Brazzaville*
  21. Colombia
  22. Costa Rica
  23. Côte d’Ivoire
  24. Croatia
  25. Cyprus
  26. Czech Republic
  27. Denmark
  28. Djibouti
  29. Dominican Republic
  30. Ecuador
  31. Estonia
  32. Fiji
  33. Finland
  34. France
  35. Gabon
  36. Georgia
  37. Germany
  38. Greece
  39. Guinea
  40. Guinea-Bissau
  41. Haiti
  42. Honduras
  43. Hungary
  44. Iceland
  45. Ireland
  46. Italy
  47. Kiribati
  48. Kyrgyzstan
  49. Latvia
  50. Liechtenstein
  51. Lithuania
  52. Luxembourg
  53. Macedonia
  54. Madagascar
  55. Malawi*
  56. Malta
  57. Marshall Islands
  58. Mauritius
  59. Mexico
  60. Micronesia
  61. Moldova
  62. Monaco
  63. Mongolia
  64. Montenegro
  65. Mozambique
  66. Namibia
  67. Nauru
  68. Nepal
  69. Netherlands
  70. New Zealand
  71. Nicaragua
  72. Norway
  73. Palau
  74. Panama
  75. Paraguay
  76. Philippines
  77. Poland
  78. Portugal
  79. Romania
  80. Rwanda
  81. Samoa
  82. San Marino
  83. Sao Tome and Principe
  84. Senegal
  85. Serbia
  86. Seychelles
  87. Sierra Leone
  88. Slovakia
  89. Slovenia
  90. Solomon Islands
  91. South Africa
  92. Spain
  93. Suriname
  94. Sweden
  95. Switzerland
  96. Timor-Leste
  97. Togo
  98. Turkey
  99. Turkmenistan
  100. Tuvalu
  101. Ukraine
  102. UK
  103. Uruguay
  104. Uzbekistan
  105. Vanuatu
  106. Venezuela
  107. Cook Islands
  108. Niue
  109. Holy See

*Recent abolitionists that still have to adapt their national legislation: Malawi, Benin, Congo-Brazzaville

Non-UN Member States: Cook Islands, Niue, Holy See

Some may argue Gambia is abolitionist. For details, see notes on the Retentionist page.

 

 

List of partial abolitionist countries (countries whose laws still provide for the death penalty to be used for exceptional crimes, such as crimes under military law or crimes committed in exceptional circumstances), and date of last execution:

  1. Brazil (1855)
  2. Burkina Faso (1988)
  3. Chile (1985)
  4. Guatemala (2000)
  5. Israel (1962)
  6. Kazakhstan (2003)
  7. El Salvador (1971)
  8. Peru (1979)

 

List of abolitionist de facto countries (countries that retain the death penalty but have not executed anyone during at least 10 years):

  1. Algeria (1993)***
  2. Antigua and Barbuda (1991)
  3. Bahamas (2000)
  4. Barbados (1984)
  5. Belize (1985)
  6. Brunei Darussalam (1957)
  7. Cameroon (1997)
  8. Central African Republic (1981)
  9. Comoros (1997)
  10. Cuba (2003)
  11. Democratic Republic of the Congo (2003)
  12. Dominica (1986)
  13. Eritrea (unknown but after independence in 1993)
  14. Eswatini (1982)
  15. Ethiopia (2007)
  16. Ghana (1993)
  17. Grenada (1978)
  18. Guyana (1997)
  19. Jamaica (1988)+
  20. Kenya (1987)
  21. Laos (1989)
  22. Lebanon (2004)
  23. Lesotho (1995)
  24. Liberia (2000)
  25. Maldives (1953)
  26. Mali (1980)***
  27. Mauritania (1987)
  28. Morocco (1993)
  29. Myanmar (1988)
  30. Niger (no executions or death sentences since 1976)
  31. Papua New Guinea (1957)
  32. Russia (1996)***
  33. Saint Kitts and Nevis (2008)
  34. Saint Lucia (1995)
  35. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (1995)
  36. South Korea (1997)
  37. Sri Lanka (1976)
  38. Tajikistan (2004)***
  39. Tanzania (1994)
  40. Tonga (1982)
  41. Trinidad and Tobago (1999)
  42. Tunisia (1991)
  43. Uganda (2006)
  44. Zambia (1997)
  45. Zimbabwe (2003)

*** These 4 de facto abolitionists states are observing a de jure or official moratorium on executions: Algeria (1993), Mali (1980), Russia (1996) and Tajikistan (2004).

 

List of retentionist countries (countries and territories that retain and partly still actively use or may use the death penalty):

  1. Afghanistan
  2. Bahrain
  3. Bangladesh
  4. Belarus
  5. Botswana
  6. China
  7. Egypt
  8. Equatorial Guinea+
  9. Gambia ++
  10. India
  11. Indonesia
  12. Iran
  13. Iraq
  14. Japan
  15. Jordan
  16. Kuwait
  17. Libya
  18. Malaysia
  19. Nigeria
  20. North Korea
  21. Oman
  22. Pakistan
  23. Qatar
  24. Saudi Arabia
  25. Singapore
  26. Somalia
  27. South Sudan
  28. Sudan
  29. Syria
  30. Thailand
  31. United Arab Emirates
  32. USA
  33. Viet Nam
  34. Yemen
  35. Palestinian Territories +++
  36. Taiwan

Non-UN Member States: Palestinian Territories, Taiwan

+ Equatorial Guinea is observing an official moratorium on executions.

++ Gambia ratified OPT2 in September 2018. Under international law, it is therefore barred from applying capital punishment. There is also an official moratorium in place.

+++ The Palestinian Authority signed OPT2 in June 2018. The legal impact of this signature is unclear, but it does demonstrate a commitment to retreating from the use of capital punishment.

 

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Sources: Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide Database, Amnesty International annual reports on Death Sentences and Executions