China was once again the world's top executioner in 2016, according to a report by rights group Amnesty International. (AFP/Getty Images) 
 
 The United States was among the world's 10 largest executioners in 2016, coming in at No. 7, according to a new report. 
 
 The U.S. dropped out of the top five global executioners for the first time in a decade. The country executed 20 people in 2016, the lowest number since 1991. 
 
 In its annual death penalty report, "Death Sentences and Executions 2016," rights group Amnesty International found at least 1,032 people were executed in 23 countries in 2016, not including figures from China. The total figure represents a 37 percent decease from 2015, when the group recorded 1,634 executions in 25 countries. Execution methods worldwide in 2016 involved beheading, shooting, lethal injection and hanging. 
 
 China was once again the world's top executioner, according to the group. While the country doesn't publish any figures on the death penalty, "available information indicates that thousands of people are executed and sentenced to death in China every year," the report says. James Clark, senior death penalty campaigner for Amnesty International USA, says the group uses multiple sources, including news reports and accounts from family members, to produce its estimates. 
 
 In descending order, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan followed China to complete the top five countries that recorded the greatest number of executions. If China is excluded, those four nations comprised about 90 percent of all executions worldwide, the report said. 
 
 Iran alone accounted for 55 percent of all executions, though executions in the country dropped by 42 percent from the previous year. Countries that rounded out the top 10 executioners included Egypt (No. 6), the U.S. (No. 7), Somalia (No. 8), Bangladesh (No. 9) and Afghanistan (No. 10). Egypt and Bangladesh doubled the number of executions in 2016 and Iraq more than tripled its number of capital punishments. 
 
 While the number of executions in the U.S. fell in 2016, the country was still the only nation to execute anyone in all of the Americas. 
 
 The number of countries carrying out executions has decreased in recent decades. While 23 countries executed people in 2016, in 1997, 40 countries did so, according to the report. In total, 104 countries have abolished the death penalty in law for all crimes. In 1997, only 64 countries were fully abolitionist. 
 
 "Countries all over the world are seeing that the death penalty doesn't work," Clark says. "It doesn't provide the safety or deterrent factors people claim that it does. It's a clear violation of human rights to execute anyone and that is being recognized more and more around the world." 
 
 ||||| The number of death sentences handed down in the US, 32, was the lowest since 1973 and the number of executions, 20, meant the country is now no longer among the world's five biggest executioners 
 
 US death penalty sentences fell to a historic low last year and executions also dropped sharply, contributing to a global slump of over a third from 2015, Amnesty International said Tuesday. 
 
 The number of death sentences handed down in the US, 32, was the lowest since 1973 and the number of executions, 20, meant the country is now no longer among the world's five biggest executioners. 
 
 Salil Shetty, secretary general of the London-based international human rights watchdog, said the US decline was "a sign of hope for activists who have long campaigned for an end to capital punishment". 
 
 "The debate is clearly shifting," he said in the group's annual global review of the death penalty, which showed a 37 percent decline overall. 
 
 Amnesty said it was "a clear sign that judges, prosecutors and juries are turning their back on the death penalty as a means of administering justice". 
 
 The report also noted sharp drops in the number of executions in Iran -- down 42 percent to at least 567 -- and Pakistan -- down 73 percent to 87. 
 
 There were also fewer executions in sub-Saharan Africa, although the number of death sentences handed down more than doubled to 1,086, largely due to a rise in Nigeria to 527 from 171. 
 
 - China 'leading' in executions - 
 
 Overall Amnesty recorded 1,032 executions worldwide last year -- a 37-percent decline from 2015. 
 
 In 2015, Amnesty said worldwide executions had reached 1,634 -- the highest recorded since 1989. 
 
 The statistics exclude China which Amnesty said executes more people than the rest of the world combined but keeps the precise numbers secret. 
 
 "China wants to be a leader on the world stage, but when it comes to the death penalty it is leading in the worst possible way -- executing more people annually than any other country in the world. 
 
 "It is high time for China to lift the veil on this deadly secret and finally come clean about its death penalty system," Shetty said. 
 
 Amnesty found public news reports of at least 931 people executed between 2014 and 2016, which it said was a fraction of the total executions believed to have taken place in China. But it said only 85 of the executions were registered in a state database. 
 
 The five biggest executioners in 2016 were China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan. 
 
 Egypt came in sixth place with a doubling of executions to 44 in 2016 from 22 in 2015. 
 
 "Under (President) Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's rule Egypt has witnessed an unprecedented increase in mass death sentences after unfair trials," Amnesty said. 
 
 Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced a three-month state of emergency following twin church bombings by the Islamic State group that killed dozens of people on Palm Sunday, the deadliest attacks on the minority in recent memory.
– The US is no longer one of the top five executioners in the world, AFP reports. In 2016, both death sentences and executions dropped in the US; only 20 people were put to death, which dropped the US to the No. 7 spot globally, per US News & World Report. And just 32 people were sentenced to death, the lowest number since 1973. Amnesty International, which reported the news, is hailing the trend, with the secretary general of the human rights organization calling it "a sign of hope for activists who have long campaigned for an end to capital punishment." And it's not just the US—globally, there has been a 37% decline in the death penalty since 2015, the year that saw the highest recorded number of executions worldwide (1,634) since 1989. But China, which keeps its numbers secret, was not included in Amnesty's tally. "China wants to be a leader on the world stage, but when it comes to the death penalty it is leading in the worst possible way—executing more people annually than any other country in the world," the organization states, calling on the country to start publicizing its numbers. Amnesty says China is the biggest executioner in the world, followed by Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Pakistan. But two of those, Iran and Pakistan, saw significant drops in the number of executions (42% and 73% respectively) in 2016.