Death penalty: Top 5 countries to execute the most people

According to Amnesty International’s annual Death Sentences and Executions report, at least 527 people were executed in 23 countries in 2010, plus thousands in China. The number of people executed worldwide since 2007 is more than 2,500. Here are the five countries registering the most executions since 2007.

1. China

China is far and away the global leader in terms of the number of people executed: It executed at least 470 people in 2007 and at least 1,718 in 2008. For 2009 and 2010, Amnesty's report only lists “thousands” because of the Chinese government’s stance that such statistics are state secrets. In 2010, China executed more people than the rest of the world combined, according to Amnesty International.

According to the Death Sentences and Executions report, a large number of China’s death sentences are for drug-related offenses.

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