Maintain the death penalty in both law and practice
Abolished in practice (no execution in over 10 years and under a moratorium)
Abolished in law, except in exceptional circumstances, such as war
Completely abolished
Capital punishment, also called the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as a punishment for a crime. It has historically been used in almost every part of the world. Since the mid-19th century many countries have abolished or discontinued the practice.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] In 2022[update], the 5 countries that executed the most people were, in descending order, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United States.[8]
53 (27%) maintain the death penalty in law and practice.
23 (11%) permit its use but have abolished it de facto: per Amnesty International standards, they have not used it for at least 10 years and are believed to have a policy or practice of not carrying out executions.[10]
10 (5%) have abolished it for all crimes except those committed under exceptional circumstances (such as during war), most recently Ghana (2023).