Current legal status · ECPM 2025
Status of the death penalty worldwide — a four-level categorical indicator: total abolition, partial abolition, de facto moratorium, active retention. Federal exception: the United States is rendered by state.
ECPM, "The Death Penalty in the World 2025" (the source of record in case of disagreement), cross-checked against Amnesty International (Death Sentences and Executions 2025) and the Death Penalty Information Center for US state-level detail.
"Moratorium" designates a country that keeps the death penalty on its books without applying it in practice for several years — distinct from legal abolition.
119 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes, but 48 actively retain it in practice — a figure that has stayed nearly stable for a decade despite the long-term global abolitionist trend. China, Iran and Saudi Arabia account for most of the executions recorded each year.