Imprisonment rate - Country rankings

* indicates monthly or quarterly data series

Number of prisoners per 100,000 people, 2017:

The average for 2017 based on 19 countries was 250 prisoners per 100,000 people. The highest value was in El Salvador: 601 prisoners per 100,000 people and the lowest value was in Haiti: 81 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
El Salvador 601 1 2004 - 2017
Panama 394 2 2003 - 2017
Brazil 335 3 2003 - 2017
Uruguay 320 4 2003 - 2017
Costa Rica 290 5 2004 - 2017
Peru 278 6 2003 - 2017
Puerto Rico 274 7 2005 - 2017
Colombia 244 8 2003 - 2017
Domin. Rep. 244 9 2003 - 2017
Chile 231 10 2003 - 2017
Ecuador 226 11 2003 - 2017
Honduras 209 12 2004 - 2017
Paraguay 206 13 2003 - 2017
Argentina 193 14 2004 - 2017
Venezuela 179 15 2014 - 2017
Bolivia 162 16 2003 - 2017
Guatemala 144 17 2003 - 2017
Mexico 141 18 2003 - 2017
Haiti 81 19 2003 - 2017



Definition: Number of prisoners per 100,000 people.

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All articles

1. El Salvador
2. Panama
3. Brazil
4. Uruguay
5. Costa Rica
6. Peru
7. Puerto Rico
8. Colombia
9. Domin. Rep.
10. Chile
11. Ecuador
12. Honduras
13. Paraguay
14. Argentina
15. Venezuela
16. Bolivia
17. Guatemala
18. Mexico
19. Haiti
601
394
335
320
290
278
274
244
244
231
226
209
206
193
179
162
144
141
81
0
150.3
300.5
450.8
601


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