List of countries by incarceration rate


This is a list of countries by incarceration rate.

Incarceration totals and rates

The table source does not list an incarceration rate for the United Kingdom as a whole. In the list see,,. A rate for the United Kingdom as a whole can be calculated by adding up the prison populations, and then dividing by the combined population of the UK.
For info on North Korea, see [|notes below]. The World Prison Brief may or may not incorporate juvenile incarceration numbers into the totals for each country. See the individual WPB country pages for more information.

Main table

Country Incarceration
Rate per
100,000
population		Prison
Population		Notes
8730,748
1775,045
15163,000
345193
6449
9324,000
36755
321305
230103,209
762,267
165170
17043,032Notes
988,692
23523,319
4421,778
2343,485
5288,211
300874
34332,500
9510,883
3561,297
687,890
319209
1451,119
15818,195
731,722
62743
2084,343
348746,532
3071,365
1259,028
397,812
8510,832
22036,600
12430,701
10739,579
2961,549
365240
16764
598,700
23242,921
1201,700,000Notes
246123,005
27225
271,240
22948
37419,226
8221,186
793,217
51057,337Notes
236377
86762
19721,048
2920,550
633,635
66600
289211
23726,045
23340,006
116106,000
59038,114
63500
1872,487
127113,727
126
2101,889
532,910
10570,818
243726
204591
2414,476
31691
2629,740
7763,851
5215,463
16556
9510,216
249139
426460
204915
381628
14325,414
12783
283,782
10196
2842,216
808,882
22920,506
1067,935
17316,947
37131
34466,084
99266,584
294240,000
12645,000
793,950
125106
23419,376
10160,769
1383,866
3948,802
129139
19820,060
15629,081
10251,130
113129
951,648
1174,662
16110,142
1309,000
1833,522
1446,966
922,073
502,426
1399,100
3112
2216,138
105652
2331,569
9324,928
7614,778
23074,000
4991,852
335,209
131660
6635
215827
532,321
2032,613
131350
163203,364
127132
1946,855
8332
1103,398
1831,141
23785,767
6319,832
17192,000
2957,400
14014
7923,775
6110,464
189535
2019,893
33220,918
449,570
3672,627
1122,330
482270
603,190
361,300
3877,275
34576
40116,953
625,087
19913,607
27890,934
179215,000
19574,130
12512,789
31310,475
531,150
10955,198
1201,073
10720,578
363523,928
51165,000
204400
62
116253
19761,000
6811,547
15610,852
415409
604,732
19911,737
15362
19510,665
691,451
78477
275163,015
507,000
12458,457
10523,355
393220
280527
426469
5221,000
1831,000
2583,453
616,210
816,943
6010,599
25860,956
1219,317
5935,803
531367,993
52695
665,109
166176
2923,999
19522,663
324264,842
55230,452
11011
12455,229
14852,863
1049,826
14083,329Notes
781,489Notes
1498,126Notes
6552,121,600Notes
29510,243
15043,900
72202
17857,096
128123,697
470134
542577
5314,000
12322,823
11419,382

Remand. Pre-trial detainees. Percent of prison population

Remand as a percent of the total incarcerated population.
Country Pre-trial
Detainees
31.3
44.9
12.0
14.9
42.2
45.8
45.5
37.0
45.9
37.1
16.6
33.0
21.3
15.1
42.0
25.7
81.3
56.2
15.4
35.6
30.1
75.8
9.6
69.9
12.5
14.4
24.5
32.8
7.1
21.1
36.7
49.8
71.9
58.1
38.7
31.7
29.6
70.2
63.4
33.5
31.7
29.0
60.0
14.6
13.3
40.7
28.3
41.0
30.0
8.5
73.0
35.5
20.0
23.7
60.0
33.9
9.9
26.6
20.1
14.9
26.8
25.9
23.6
29.6
25.9
14.4
80.2
22.2
18.5
20.4
12.2
26.8
31.1
32.5
15.2
26.9
45.1
46.7
19.3
60.0
67.9
35.6
66.8
53.1
24.5
18.2
17.6
69.4
23.8
25.1
35.2
19.0
6.6
25.2
31.0
23.1
11.3
28.1
36.9
18.1
48.0
5.4
18.1
10.0
16.6
67.0
27.9
64.7
19.5
63.0
90.0
75.0
11.8
41.0
18.9
56.4
17.9
26.7
52.8
31.0
11.4
27.3
38.2
48.7
56.1
39.2
16.7
16.6
56.3
34.4
27.4
39.1
33.1
15.1
54.0
25.0
58.9
28.9
14.2
35.4
21.4
53.8
69.9
8.4
22.9
5.6
62.1
4.1
43.8
34.4
77.9
39.3
75.1
11.5
17.9
13.0
44.0
34.5
14.0
10.2
18.7
7.5
14.0
83.3
32.8
58.7
39.7
15.0
20.8
29.5
11.9
18.1
14.5
26.0
48.2
29.3
28.9
16.2
60.2
30.5
53.5
24.3
20.4
50.0
18.1
30.6
42.2
50.5
4.4
15.0
51.0
15.7
23.2
62.9
7.4
59.7
52.0
43.1
14.0
0.0
49.8
35.9
38.2
11.5
33.7
19.0
21.6
69.7
10.0
15.3
63.0
12.4
37.0
36.4
70.1
28.0
18.6

Europe

Prison population of Europe is approximately 1.2 million of total 743 million population.

Australia

With a prison population of 42,000 and a total 2018 population of 25 million, Australia has an incarceration rate of 171 per 100,000 population, or 222 per 100,000 adult population.
In addition to its standard prisons, Australia also operates a separate system of immigration prisons to detain foreigners who have breached the terms of, or lack a visa. Some of these immigration detention centres are used to indefinitely detain asylum seekers and refugees, including children, often without trial, sometimes for several years. Immigration detainees are not included in the data for prison population and incarceration rates.
Additionally, the number of prisoners and incarceration rate differs for each Australian state and territory, with some having much higher or lower incarceration rates than the national average.
In addition to adult prisoners, on an average night in June 2017, there was 964 minors imprisoned in Australia.

China

According to the World Prison Brief, China had an incarceration rate of 118 per 100,000 as of mid-2015. The World Prison Brief states that in addition to the sentenced prisoners, there may be more than 650,000 held in detention centers. "A total prison population of 2,300,000 would raise the incarceration rate to 164 per 100,000."
After 2015 there was a great increase in the number of people in the Xinjiang re-education camps. In May 2018, Randall Schriver of the United States Department of Defense claimed that "at least a million but likely closer to three million citizens" were imprisoned in detention centers in a strong condemnation of the "concentration camps". In August 2018, a United Nations human rights panel said that it had received many credible reports that 1 million ethnic Uyghurs in China have been held in "re-education camps".

Cuba

In January 2020, a former high ranking judge in Cuba leaked secret Cuban government documents that showed the regime had the highest incarceration rate in the world at over 90,000 prisoners, with thousands in prison on dubious charges. Documents reviewed by the New York Times showed 92% of individuals tried in the country are found guilty. Nearly 4,000 every year are accused of being "antisocial" or "dangerous", which are terms used by the government to charge those that have committed no crime but are viewed by the regime as a risk to the status quo. Those charges have a 99.5% conviction rate. These individuals face summary trials with no right to a defense or to present evidence, according to the former judge. The documents show individuals being sentenced for several years in prison under the category of "anti-social", which can include actions like not belonging to state associated civic organizations or being unemployed. The crime "description" is often identical, appearing to be copy and pasted by police. The high incarceration rate in the secret documents is consistent with dissident group claims that the Cuban government's 2012 one-time release of inmate population numbers, when they reported 57,000 inmates, was false.
According to Human Rights Watch, the Cuban government employs arbitrary detention to harass and intimidate regime critics, independent activists, political opponents, and others. Human Rights Watch's 2018 report noted "Cubans who criticize the government face the threat of criminal prosecution. They do not benefit from due process guarantees, such as the right to fair and public hearings by a competent and impartial tribunal. In some cases, detainees are released after receiving official warnings, which prosecutors can later use in subsequent criminal trials to show a pattern of “delinquent” behavior."

India

The prison population of India was 433,003 as of December 31, 2016, according to the World Prison Brief. According to the National Prison Portal website when viewed on 22 October 2019, the prison population of India is around 473,000.

North Korea

Little information exists regarding North Korea's incarceration rate. In 2012, the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea estimated 150,000 to 200,000 are incarcerated, based on testimonies of defectors from the state police bureau, which roughly equals 600–800 people incarcerated per 100,000. For more information, see Prisons in North Korea.

United Kingdom

The main chart source only provides rates for the constituent parts of the UK. In the above table see Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England and Wales. If they are not listed separately, then they can be found listed under the UK listing.

United States

The incarceration rate is for inmates held in adult facilities in the United States. It does not include inmates in the custody of correctional facilities operated by departments of corrections in U.S. territories and U.S. commonwealths.
In addition, there were 48,043 juveniles in juvenile detention in 2015. For more juvenile detention information and numbers, see Youth incarceration in the United States.
The incarceration rate in the U.S. varies greatly by U.S. state. See: List of U.S. states and territories by incarceration and correctional supervision rate.