"Among the people executed for drug offences worldwide in 2025, at least 23 were women, 338 were reportedly from ethnic minorities (almost one in four people executed), and 271 were foreign nationals (more than one in five people executed). Many of the people executed share similar stories: a background of poverty, due process flaws, and a low-level position in the drug trade, meaning they are highly visible to law enforcement yet easily replaceable in the drug market.
"Throughout 2025, at least 331 people were sentenced to death for drug crimes in 18 countries (one more country than in 2024). Among them were at least 7 women and 33 foreign nationals. Over 2,450 people remain on death row for drug offences in 22 countries; hundreds of these people are at risk of imminent execution.
"The long-standing failure of the international community to hold governments accountable for this inhumane, illegal and ineffective practice, combined with populist rhetorics that frame drugs as an existential security threat, had grave consequences in 2025. There were not only a staggering number of executions, and stark increases in death sentences in countries such as Iraq and Indonesia; rare punitive legal reforms were also enacted. For the first time in over a decade, two countries – Algeria and the Maldives – introduced the death penalty for drug offences. These developments run counter to countries’ international obligation to progressively restrict the use of the death penalty and go against the well-established global trend towards universal abolition of the death penalty."
Giada Girelli, Marcela Jofré, and Ajeng Larasati. The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2025. Harm Reduction International. March 2026.