Imprisonment rate - Country rankings

* indicates monthly or quarterly data series

Number of prisoners per 100,000 people, 2017:

The average for 2017 based on 26 countries was 125 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
Mauritius 202 5 2003 - 2017
Botswana 189 6 2003 - 2017
Uganda 126 7 2003 - 2017
S.T.&Principe 123 8 2015 - 2017
Zambia 118 9 2003 - 2017
Kenya 103 10 2004 - 2017
Burundi 93 11 2003 - 2017
Madagascar 82 12 2003 - 2017
Malawi 79 13 2003 - 2017
Benin 70 14 2006 - 2017
Togo 62 15 2003 - 2017
Mozambique 61 16 2004 - 2017
Sierra Leone 60 17 2004 - 2017
Senegal 59 18 2005 - 2017
Ivory Coast 57 19 2006 - 2017
Sudan 52 20 2002 - 2017
Ghana 51 21 2003 - 2017
Liberia 47 22 2007 - 2017
Nigeria 40 23 2004 - 2017
G.-Bissau 32 24 2016 - 2017
Guinea 25 25 2002 - 2017
Comoros 23 26 2009 - 2017



Definition: Number of prisoners per 100,000 people.

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All articles

1. Rwanda
2. Seychelles
3. Cape Verde
4. South Africa
5. Mauritius
6. Botswana
7. Uganda
8. S.T.&Principe
9. Zambia
10. Kenya
11. Burundi
12. Madagascar
13. Malawi
14. Benin
15. Togo
16. Mozambique
17. Sierra Leone
18. Senegal
19. Ivory Coast
20. Sudan
21. Ghana
22. Liberia
23. Nigeria
24. G.-Bissau
25. Guinea
26. Comoros
500
445
282
279
202
189
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


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