For more than 40 years, the trend seemed to be moving in a clear direction: that of a gradual decline in the death penalty throughout the world. However, the latest report published by Amnesty International this Monday, May 18 is a stark reminder of another reality. The human rights organization claims to have recorded 2,707 executions in 2025, an increase of 78% in one year and the highest level recorded since 1981, the date from which it compiles this data. A year during which France abolished the death penalty.
An increase all the more impressive as it occurs in a context where 113 countries have now completely abolished the death penalty, in law and for all crimes, but where a handful of States continue to use it massively, or even intensify its use. When France stopped using it, only 27 countries had turned their backs on this practice. More than four decades later, nearly three-quarters of the world’s states have abandoned it, “whether in law or in practice » said the NGO.
A small minority which inflates the figures
But this global dynamic masks another, more brutal trend. According to Amnesty, only 17 nations carried out executions in 2025, two more than in 2024. A low number, historically speaking, which contrasts with the scale of the total recorded. Behind this spectacular increase, one country largely dominates: Iran. The Islamic Republic is held primarily responsible for this statistical explosion, with at least 2,159 people executed in one year, more than double the level observed in 2024.
Saudi Arabia comes behind with at least 356 executions, notably linked to offenses against the legislation on narcotics. Other states also show a marked increase: Kuwait, Egypt, Singapore and the United States, where 47 people were executed compared to 25 the previous year, underlines franceinfo.
To explain this increase, Amnesty International points in particular to “ the resurgence of extremely punitive approaches to the war on drugs HAS”. Nearly half of the executions recorded in 2025, or 1,257 cases, would be linked to drug offenses. Iran, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and even Kuwait are among the countries concerned. In some cases, legislative projects have even sought to expand the use of capital punishment for this type of offense.
The NGO emphasizes, however, that this particularly gloomy picture should not mask the progress observed elsewhere in the world. No executions or death sentences have been recorded in Europe and Central Asia, while several regions of the world are seeing this practice decline sustainably. For Amnesty, this spectacular increase remains the fact of “ an isolated minority » of States, in opposition to a global movement which, slowly but continually, continues its march towards abolition.
