Six of the top ten countries for recorded intentional homicides have the death penalty. They are India, Indonesia, the United States, Thailand, Mexico and Russia. Mexico retains the death penalty only for exceptional crimes such as military crimes. Russia is considered abolitionist in practice. (http://web.amnesty.org/pages/deathpenalty-countries-eng)

Ukraine and South Africa are the most recent countries in the top ten to abolish the death penalty. South Africa abolished the death penalty for all crimes in 1997, and Ukraine in 1999.

Only two of the bottom 10 countries on this list – Dominica and Qatar – have the death penalty. In the year 2000, Dominica had two murders and Qatar had one.

In the world, there are 78 countries that practice the death penalty, 83 that do not have the death penalty for any crime, 13 that have abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes, and 22 that have the death penalty but have not executed anybody for at least 10 years.