2015 Executions Were Highest in 25 Years, U.S. Was Among Top 5

Last year was like a death row for more people than on any other year in the past two-and-a-half decades, says a new report by global human-rights group Amnesty International, which was released on Wednesday, according to time.

In just one year, about 1,634 people were executed in 25 countries. This was a 54% increase from executions in the previous year. Even if China's figures are not factored---as Beijing treats executions as a state secret---Amnesty explains that the 2015 executions was the highest recorded since 1989.

Almost 90% of the death penalty happened in just three countries - Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Pakistan. The last country reinstated capital punishment in December 2014 after a seven-year moratorium. All three countries are ranked between China, where thousands are executed annually, and the U.S., which figures in the top five with 28 put to death in 2015.

"The rise in executions last year is profoundly disturbing," said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International's Secretary General.

"Not for the last 25 years have so many people been put to death by states around the world."

The real numbers of the executed are expected to be even higher in nations such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Somalia and Egypt, which are likely higher than their respective confirmed totals of 977, 158, 26, 25, and 22.

Most of the world is renouncing the death penalty, with Madagascar, Fiji, the Republic of Congo and Suriname having abolished it for all crimes last year. Hence, the total number of countries that have abolished the death penalty totals 102. On Dec. 31, 2015, Amnesty said, the number of countries having abolished it "in law or practice" was just 140.

"Thankfully, countries that execute belong to a small and increasingly isolated minority," Salil Shetty. "The majority of states have turned their back on the death penalty."