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Governments across the globe executed 573 more people in 2015 than in 2014, a 54% increase for nations from which Amnesty International was able to obtain data, according to a new report.

The increase brought the total number of executions up to 1,634 people.

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That increase was mainly fueled by executions in Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, where 89% of last year's executions took place. 

Pakistan carried out more executions there in 2015 than in any year for which Amnesty has recorded data, while Iran and Saudi Arabia increased executions by 31% and 76%, respectively.  

Iranian worshippers attend a rally to protest the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent opposition Saudi Shiite cleric, after their Friday prayers in Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 8.Credit: AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi

Iran executed 977 people last year, the highest number for countries in which Amnesty International was able to obtain information. Most of those executions were related to drug crimes. 

The information does not include execution data from China, which is expected to carry out more executions per year than any other nation, but considers such information a state secret. 

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Despite some dark notes in the report -- the organization says, "as in previous years, the death penalty was regularly applied in contravention of international law and standards" -- Amnesty also notes that The Republic of Congo, Fiji, Madagascar and Suriname abolished the death penalty in 2015. 

Those four countries bring the total number of abolitionist nations to 102, the first time a majority of the countries in the world have abolished the death penalty. Only 16 nations had abolished the death penalty when Amnesty first began its effort against it in 1977.

An additional 38 countries have abolished the death penalty in practice.

This Nov. 18, 2011, photo shows the execution room at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem, Oregon.Credit: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer

Burkina Faso, Guinea, Kenya and South Korea all considered legislation that would stop the death penalty.

The United States was again the only country in the Americas to go through with executions in 2015, though Amnesty officials said steps in Pennsylvania and Nebraska to abolish or halt executions were positive. 

Texas, Missouri and Georgia carried out 24 of the nation's 28 executions last year.

And while California has not carried out an execution since 2006, 746 of California's inmates remain on death row, more than in any other state. 

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