Twenty-eight thousand people sat in cells awaiting execution
Across fifty-five nations, the deliberate taking of life by the state endures as a legal institution, even as the arc of history bends steadily away from it. Amnesty International recorded 883 confirmed executions in 2022—a figure that excludes China, where the true count may run into the thousands—while 28,282 human beings waited in cells for sentences to be carried out. Four countries abolished the practice entirely that same year, joining a global majority of 112 nations that have already done so, suggesting that capital punishment is not so much a permanent feature of civilization as a receding one, still capable of inflicting immense suffering in its retreat.
- With 883 confirmed executions in 2022 and China's true toll hidden behind state secrecy, the scale of state-sanctioned death remains both vast and deliberately obscured.
- Twenty-eight thousand people sit in prolonged uncertainty on death rows worldwide, their years of waiting becoming, critics argue, a punishment layered upon a punishment.
- Alabama's use of nitrogen gas to execute Kenneth Eugene Smith in January 2024 ignited fierce debate over whether any method of execution can be administered without constituting cruelty.
- Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt dominate confirmed execution figures, with drug offenses alone accounting for 325 deaths in 2022—a reminder that capital punishment reaches far beyond violent crime.
- Four nations abolished capital punishment entirely in 2022, and Ghana followed in 2023, signaling that the global consensus continues to shift, however unevenly, toward abolition.
Fifty-five nations still carry out executions—a fact that arrives against a powerful countercurrent. The global movement toward abolition has been steady for decades, and yet in 2022, Amnesty International documented 883 confirmed executions, the highest count since 2017. China, where thousands are believed to be executed annually behind a wall of state secrecy, is excluded from that figure entirely.
The geography of capital punishment has grown increasingly concentrated. Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, Vietnam, Yemen, and the United States account for the bulk of confirmed cases. Courts in fifty-two countries imposed at least two thousand new death sentences in 2022 alone, leaving roughly twenty-eight thousand people awaiting execution—some for decades. That prolonged waiting, critics argue, is itself a form of cruelty. Five of those executed in 2022 had committed their crimes as minors. Three hundred twenty-five executions were carried out for drug offenses, the majority in Iran.
Methods vary and have become flashpoints in the broader debate. Saudi Arabia lists decapitation as an official technique. Singapore executed its first woman in nearly two decades in 2023 for heroin trafficking. In the United States—the only Western democracy that regularly carries out executions—difficulty obtaining lethal injection drugs has forced a reckoning. Alabama approved nitrogen gas as an alternative, and on January 25, 2024, Kenneth Eugene Smith became the first person executed by this method, convicted in a 1988 murder. His lawyers argued the untested technique amounted to cruel and unusual punishment; the Supreme Court disagreed.
Yet the trend line bends toward abolition. In 2022, Kazakhstan, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone, and the Central African Republic eliminated capital punishment entirely. Malaysia removed mandatory death sentences for eleven serious crimes. Ghana voted for complete abolition in 2023. One hundred twelve countries have now abandoned the practice, compared to just forty-eight in 1991. The deeper question—whether capital punishment can ever be administered humanely—grows harder to avoid as the methods available to carry it out grow harder to defend.
Fifty-five nations still carry out executions. That fact alone might seem unremarkable in a world of nearly two hundred countries, but it arrives against a powerful current: the global movement toward abolition has been steady and unmistakable for decades. In 2022, Amnesty International documented 883 confirmed executions worldwide—a number that excludes China, where thousands are believed to be put to death annually behind a wall of state secrecy that makes verification impossible. Even setting aside the Chinese figure, the 2022 total marked the highest count since 2017, though it remains substantially lower than the peaks of the late 1980s and early 1990s, when annual executions regularly exceeded fifteen hundred.
The geography of capital punishment has become increasingly concentrated. China leads by an unknowable margin. Among nations where figures can be confirmed, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, Vietnam, Yemen, and the United States dominate the list. In 2022 alone, courts in fifty-two countries imposed at least two thousand new death sentences. By year's end, approximately twenty-eight thousand people sat in cells awaiting execution—some having waited decades for a sentence to be carried out. The delays themselves have become part of the punishment, a slow accumulation of years that critics argue constitutes its own form of cruelty.
The methods vary by nation. Saudi Arabia stands alone in listing decapitation as its official execution technique. Others employ hanging, firing squads, and lethal injection. The specificity matters because it has become a flashpoint in the broader debate. In 2022, Amnesty International documented at least three public executions and confirmed that five people were executed for crimes they committed before turning eighteen. Drug offenses accounted for three hundred twenty-five executions that year—two hundred fifty-five in Iran, fifty-seven in Saudi Arabia, and eleven in Singapore, which in 2023 executed Saridewi Djaman, the first woman in nearly two decades, for heroin trafficking.
Yet the trend line bends toward abolition. In 2022, four nations eliminated capital punishment entirely: Kazakhstan, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone, and the Central African Republic. Two others—Equatorial Guinea and Zambia—restricted it to the most extreme cases. Malaysia's parliament removed mandatory death sentences for eleven serious crimes. Ghana's parliament voted for complete abolition in July 2023. Globally, one hundred twelve countries have now abandoned capital punishment, compared to just forty-eight that had done so by 1991. Nine of the fifty-five nations that retain it reserve the penalty only for crimes of exceptional severity—mass murder, war crimes. Another twenty-three have the laws on their books but have not executed anyone in a decade or more.
The United States occupies an unusual position in this landscape. It remains the only Western democracy that regularly carries out executions, though the number has declined significantly from the 1999 peak. The difficulty in obtaining drugs for lethal injection—the method long preferred by American states—has forced a reckoning. Alabama, along with two other states, has approved nitrogen gas as an alternative. On January 25, 2024, Kenneth Eugene Smith became the first person executed by this method. Smith had been convicted in the 1988 murder of Elizabeth Sennett. His lawyers fought the execution for years, arguing that nitrogen hypoxia—replacing breathable air with pure nitrogen gas, causing death by oxygen deprivation—amounted to cruel and unusual punishment and that their client should not become a test subject for an untested technique. The Supreme Court and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals rejected those arguments, finding insufficient evidence that the method violated constitutional protections. Supporters of nitrogen gas execution claim it produces a quick, painless death. Critics worry about both its ethics and its unknowns. The debate reflects a deeper tension: as traditional execution methods become harder to obtain or defend, states and nations are forced to confront whether capital punishment itself can be administered humanely, or whether the question itself contains its own answer.
Notable Quotes
Kenneth Eugene Smith's lawyers argued that nitrogen hypoxia amounted to cruel and unusual punishment and that their client should not become a test subject for an untested technique— Smith's legal defense team
Supporters of nitrogen gas execution claim it produces a quick, painless death. Critics worry about both its ethics and its unknowns— Amnesty International and legal observers
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does the number 883 matter if China's actual figure is probably much higher?
Because it's the only number we can verify. The 883 represents confirmed executions—documented, witnessed, reported. It's the floor, not the ceiling. But it also shows us where the world's confirmed killing happens: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt. Those numbers are real. They're the ones we can actually discuss.
You mention that twenty-eight thousand people are waiting. Waiting for what, exactly?
Waiting to die. Some have been waiting for decades. The delay itself becomes punishment—you live in a cell knowing the date might come tomorrow, or in ten years. It's a kind of psychological execution that happens before the physical one.
Four countries abolished it in 2022. That sounds like progress. Is it?
It is progress, but slow. One hundred twelve countries have abolished it now. But fifty-five still use it, and some of those are executing more people than they did before. Saudi Arabia hit a thirty-year high in 2022. So yes, the trend is toward abolition, but the countries that still practice it are doing it more intensely.
What's the significance of the nitrogen gas execution?
It's a symptom of a practical problem becoming a moral one. States can't get the drugs they need for lethal injection anymore. So they're inventing new methods. Alabama says nitrogen is humane. But Kenneth Smith's lawyers called it experimental, cruel. The real question is: if you have to keep inventing new ways to execute people, maybe that's telling you something about whether you should be executing people at all.
You mention five executions of people who committed crimes as minors. That's a small number in a large total. Why does it stand out?
Because it's five children. Or people who were children when they committed the crime. Most of the world has decided that's unacceptable. But seven countries didn't in 2022. That's not a statistical anomaly—that's a choice.