Executions around the world rose to the highest number recorded in five years in 2022, even as more countries moved to outlaw the death penalty, according to an annual report by Amnesty International released Tuesday.

At least 883 executions were recorded globally last year, a 53% increase over 579 deaths in 2021. Those numbers did not include China, which Amnesty said it believed had executed and sentenced to death “thousands” of people, because of a lack of transparency that made it difficult for the human rights group to make an accurate assessment.

About 90% of the executions recorded in 2022 were carried out by three of the world’s leading executioners — Egypt, Iran and Saudi Arabia — the report said.

Amnesty International’s secretary-general, Agnes Callamard, said the trend of increasing executions demonstrated a “callous disregard for human life” among governments in the Middle East and North Africa in particular. Executions in that region increased by 59%, Amnesty said.

In Iran and Saudi Arabia, many executions were for nonlethal crimes, like drug-related offenses, which is in violation of international law. Of the three countries, Egypt was the only one that recorded a decline in executions — 24 people in 2022 from at least 83 the year before.

Executions in Saudi Arabia tripled to 196 people — the highest number Amnesty recorded in the country in 30 years — and included 81 people whom the government put to death in one day in 2022.

The rise in executions coincided with a crackdown on dissent in the authoritarian kingdom.

A report released in January by Reprieve, a human rights organization, and the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights found that executions in Saudi Arabia had increased by 82% since King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, his son, came to power in 2015.

Executions in Iran increased by 83% to 576 in 2022, according to the Amnesty report, which said the deaths included at least five people who were convicted of crimes they committed as minors.

The Amnesty report comes as executions have surged over the past five months in Iran. At least 209 people have been put to death since January, according to the United Nations.