More Than 10.35 Million People Are in Prison Around the World

A World Prison Brief study released earlier this year found that the number of people held in detention centers worldwide may exceed 11 million.

The organization reports:

The WPPL provides up-to-date information on the global prison population and the rate per 100,000 of the national population in 223 countries and territories. Figures are unavailable for only three countries – Eritrea, North Korea and Somalia. …

There are more than 2.2 million prisoners in the United States of America, more than 1.65 million in China [whose population is 4.3 times larger] (plus an unknown number in pre-trial detention or ‘administrative detention’), 640,000 in the Russian Federation, 607,000 in Brazil, 418,000 in India, 311,000 in Thailand, 255,000 in Mexico and 225,000 in Iran.

The countries with the highest prison population rate – the number of prisoners per 100,000 of the national population – are Seychelles (799 per 100,000), followed by the United States (698), St. Kitts & Nevis (607), Turkmenistan (583), U.S. Virgin Islands (542), Cuba (510), El Salvador (492), Guam – U.S.A. (469), Thailand (461), Belize (449), Russian Federation (445), Rwanda (434) and British Virgin Islands (425). …

The world prison population rate, based on United Nations estimates of national population levels, is 144 per 100,000. …

Since about the year 2000 the world prison population total has grown by almost 20%, which is slightly above the estimated 18% increase in the world’s general population over the same period.

See the report here.

—Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.