- Five African countries – Egypt, Botswana, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan – carried out executions, with Botswana and Sudan resuming after not doing so in 2017.
- A drop in recorded executions in Somalia drove an overall decrease in the region, from 28 in 2017 to 24 in 2018, despite an alarming increase in executions in South Sudan.
- The scope of the death penalty was expanded in Mauritania and Nigeria.
- Burkina Faso abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes only and Gambia moved closer to abolishing the death penalty.
- 9 African countries have the highest number of people on death row as at 2018
Amnesty International, a non-governmental organisation that focuses on human rights, has revealed that six African nations performed execution on death row in 2018 with sub-Saharan African accounting for 90% of it.