Imprisonment rate - Country rankings
* indicates monthly or quarterly data series
Number of prisoners per 100,000 people, 2017:
The average for 2017 based on 29 countries was 132 prisoners per 100,000 people. The highest value was in Rwanda: 500 prisoners per 100,000 people and the lowest value was in the Comoros: 23 prisoners per 100,000 people. The indicator is available from 2002 to 2017. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.Measure: prisoners per 100,000 people; Source: The UN office on drugs and crime
Select indicator
* indicates monthly or quarterly data series
| Countries | Imprisonment rate, 2017 | Global rank | Available data |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rwanda | 500 | 1 | 2005 - 2017 |
| Seychelles | 445 | 2 | 2003 - 2017 |
| Cape Verde | 282 | 3 | 2007 - 2017 |
| South Africa | 279 | 4 | 2003 - 2017 |
| Morocco | 233 | 5 | 2003 - 2017 |
| Mauritius | 202 | 6 | 2003 - 2017 |
| Botswana | 189 | 7 | 2003 - 2017 |
| Tunisia | 180 | 8 | 2004 - 2017 |
| Algeria | 145 | 9 | 2003 - 2017 |
| Uganda | 126 | 10 | 2003 - 2017 |
| S.T.&Principe | 123 | 11 | 2015 - 2017 |
| Zambia | 118 | 12 | 2003 - 2017 |
| Kenya | 103 | 13 | 2004 - 2017 |
| Burundi | 93 | 14 | 2003 - 2017 |
| Madagascar | 82 | 15 | 2003 - 2017 |
| Malawi | 79 | 16 | 2003 - 2017 |
| Benin | 70 | 17 | 2006 - 2017 |
| Togo | 62 | 18 | 2003 - 2017 |
| Mozambique | 61 | 19 | 2004 - 2017 |
| Sierra Leone | 60 | 20 | 2004 - 2017 |
| Senegal | 59 | 21 | 2005 - 2017 |
| Ivory Coast | 57 | 22 | 2006 - 2017 |
| Sudan | 52 | 23 | 2002 - 2017 |
| Ghana | 51 | 24 | 2003 - 2017 |
| Liberia | 47 | 25 | 2007 - 2017 |
| Nigeria | 40 | 26 | 2004 - 2017 |
| G.-Bissau | 32 | 27 | 2016 - 2017 |
| Guinea | 25 | 28 | 2002 - 2017 |
| Comoros | 23 | 29 | 2009 - 2017 |
Definition: Number of prisoners per 100,000 people.
Selected articles from our guide:
The unholy trinity of international finance
Most commonly used measures of corruption
All articles
500
445
282
279
233
202
189
180
145
126
123
118
103
93
82
79
70
62
61
60
59
57
52
51
47
40
32
25
23
0
125
250
375
500
Imprisonment rate around the world Imprisonment rate in Europe Imprisonment rate in Asia Imprisonment rate in North America Imprisonment rate in South America Imprisonment rate in Australia/Oceania Imprisonment rate in the European union Imprisonment rate in Sub Sahara Africa Imprisonment rate in MENA Imprisonment rate in South East Asia Imprisonment rate in Latin America