Rabat, April 11 -- Global executions fell by 31% to the lowest figure in at least a decade, Amnesty International reports in its 2018 review of the death penalty worldwide. The review, published Tuesday, assesses all recorded executions worldwide, excluding China.

Without accounting for China, the estimated number of executions in 2018 was 690. This marks a dramatic decrease from 2017 which saw 993 executions.

China is the world's top executioner with estimated execution figures in the thousands. But, as the executions in China are a state secret, the government never officially releases data.

After China, the most executions took place in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and Iraq. With at least 253 in Iran, 149 in Saudi Arabia, at least 8...