Capital punishment by country
Capital punishment has been used in almost every part of the globe, but in the last few decades many countries have abolished it. Abolitionist groups including Amnesty International classifies countries into four categories:
- 57 countries maintain the death penalty in both law and practice. (Also lists the Palestinian Authority)
- 91 have abolished it. (Also lists the Cook Islands & Niue)
- 10 retain it for crimes committed in exceptional circumstances (such as in time of war).
- 36 permit its use for ordinary crimes, but have not used it for at least 10 years or is under a moratorium.
Additionally, five countries executes offenders under the age 18 at the time of the crime committed.[1] In some countries the practice of extrajudicial execution sporadically or systematically outside their own formal legal frameworks occurs. This list below includes several unrecognized states with de facto control over their territory and dependent territories, neither of which are included in the above numbers, except as noted. Below, at least 2,390 were executed in 25 nations during 2008.[2]
Legend
Note: The tables can be sorted alphabetically or chronologically using the 
icon.
Executions in 2008: Botswana (1), Egypt (2+), Libya (8+), Sudan (1+)
| Key | Country | Last Execution | Abolished | Notes
DZA AGO BEN BWA BFA BDI CMR CPV CAF TCD COM COD COG CIV DJI EGY GNQ ERI ETH GAB GMB GHA GNB GIN KEN LSO LBR LBY MDG MWI MLI MRT MUS MAR MOZ NAM NER NGA RWA SADR STP SEN SYC SLE SOM Somaliland ZAF SDN SWZ TZA TGO TUN UGA ZMB ZWE |
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Executions in 2008: Afghanistan (17+), Bahrain (1), Bangladesh (5), People's Republic of China (1718+), Indonesia (10), Iran (346+), Iraq (34+), Japan (15), Malaysia (1+), Mongolia (1+), North Korea (15+), Pakistan (36+), Saudi Arabia (102+), Singapore (1+), Syria (1+), UAE (1+), Vietnam (19+), Yemen (13+)
| Key | Country | Last Execution | Abolished | Notes
AFG ARM AZE BHR BGD BTN BRN KHM PRC HKG MAC Taiwan TLS GEO IND IDN IRN IRQ ISR JPN JOR KAZ PRK KOR KWT KGZ LAO LBN MYS MDV MNG MMR Nagorno-Karabakh NPL OMN PAK PSE PHL QAT SAU SGP LKA SYR TJK THA TKM ARE UZB VNM YEM |
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Executions in 2008: Belarus (4)
| Key | Country | Last Execution | Abolished | Notes
ALB AND AUT BLR BEL BIH BGR HRV CYP CZE DNK EST EU FIN FRA DEU GRC HUN ISL IRL ITA Kosovo LVA LIE LTU LUX MKD MLT IMN MDA MCO MNE NLD NOR POL PRT ROU RUS SMR SRB SVK SVN ESP SWE CHE Transnistria TUR Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus UKR UK VAT |
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Executions in 2008: Saint Kitts and Nevis (1), United States (37)
| Key | Country | Last Execution | Abolished | Notes
ATG BHS BRB BLZ BMU CAN CRI CUB DMA DOM SLV GRD GTM HTI HND JAM MEX NIC PAN KNA LCA VCT TTO TCA USA |
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Executions in 2008: none
| Key | Country | Last Execution | Abolished | Notes
AUS COK FJI KIR MHL FSM NRU NZL NIU PLW PNG WSM SLB TON TUV VUT |
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Executions in 2008: none
| Key | Country | Last Execution | Abolished | Notes |
|---|