As of February 2025, El Salvador had the highest prisoner rate worldwide, with over 1,600 prisoners per 100,000 of the national population. Cuba, Rwanda, Turkmenistan, and the United States, rounded out the top five countries with the highest rate of incarceration. Homicides in El Salvador Interestingly, El Salvador, which long had the highest global homicide rates, has dropped out of the top 20 after a high number of gang members have been incarcerated. A high number of the countries with the highest homicide rate are located in Latin America. Prisoners in the United StatesThe United States is home to the largest number of prisoners worldwide. More than 1.8 million people were incarcerated in the U.S. at the beginning of 2025. In China, the estimated prison population totaled 1.69 million people that year. Other nations had far fewer prisoners. The largest share of the U.S. prisoners in federal correctional facilities were of African-American origin. As of 2020, there were 345,500 black, non-Hispanic prisoners, compared to 327,300 white, non-Hispanic inmates. The U.S. states with the largest number of prisoners in 2022 were Texas, California, and Florida. Over 160,000 prisoners in state facilities were sentenced for rape or sexual assault, which was the most common cause of imprisonment. The second most common was murder, followed by aggravated or simple assault.

At the beginning of 2025, the United States had the highest number of incarcerated individuals worldwide, with around 1.8 million people in prison. China followed with around 100,000 fewer prisoners. Brazil followed in third. The incarceration problem in the U.S. The United States has an incredibly high number of incarcerated individuals. Therefore, the incarceration problem has become a widely contested issue, because it impacts disadvantaged people and minorities the most. Additionally, the prison system has become capitalized by outside corporations that fund prisons, but there is still a high cost to taxpayers. Furthermore, there has been an increase in the amount of private prisons that have been created. For-profit prison companies have come under scrutiny because of their lack of satisfactory staff and widespread lobbying. Violent offenses are the most common type of offense among prisoners in the U.S. Incarceration rates worldwide El Salvador had the highest rate of incarceration worldwide, at 1,659 prisoners per 100,000 residents as of February 2025. Cuba followed in second with 794 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants. The incarceration rate is a better measure to use when comparing countries than the total prison populations, which will naturally have the most populous countries topping the list.

In 2023 Turkey had the highest incarceration rate among European countries, at 408 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Georgia, which had an incarceration of 256. The country with the lowest incarceration rate in this year was Liechtenstein, which had 15 people in prison for every 100,000 inhabitants. Germany had one of the lowest rates of 69 when compared with other major European countries such as France and England & Wales, which had rates of 106 and 136 respectively. The Russian Federation has in previous years been the country with the highest incarceration rate in the Council of Europe's data, however, as the country was removed as a member of the council in 2022 due to their invasion of Ukraine, data for Russia is no longer available.

In 2022, the incarceration rate of African Americans in local jails in the United States was *** incarcerations per 100,000 of the population -- the highest rate of any race or ethnicity. The second-highest incarceration rate was among American Indians/Alaska Natives, at *** incarcerations per 100,000 of the population.

As of 2022, Black people were more likely than those of other races to be imprisoned in the United States. In that year, the rate of imprisonment for Black men stood at 1,826 per 100,000 of the population. For Black women, this rate stood at 64 per 100,000 of the population.

The United States had the highest rate of prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants of the G7 countries between 2010 and 2022. In 2022, there were almost *** prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants in the country. By comparison, the Canada, who had the second-highest prisoner rate, had less than ****** prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants. Japan had the lowest rate at **.

England and Wales had an incarceration rate of 136.2 per 100,000 people in 2023, compared with 133.2 for Scotland and 90.5 for Northern Ireland. In 2008, Scotland had a higher incarceration rate than England and Wales, but this declined at a faster rate than those two countries after 2012, although the recent uptick in 2019 has seen Scotland once again have the highest incarceration rate in the UK. Northern Ireland has consistently had the lowest incarceration rate in the UK.

Among the founding NATO nations, the United States was the country with the highest incarceration rate of 664 per 100,000 population in 2021. The United Kingdom was second on the list, with 129 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants.

As of December 2022, there was a total of 139,631 prisoners in the state of Texas, the most out of any state. California, Florida, Georgia, and Ohio rounded out the top five states with the most prisoners in the United States.

The Central American nation with the highest prison population rate was El Salvador, with over 1,000 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Panama with 522 prisoners. The lowest prison population rate of the region was found in Guatemala, with 123 prisoners per 100,000 people.

Private prisons, also referred to as for-profit prisons, have become a dominant sector of society in the United States and are now implemented in many states around the country. As of 2022, the state of Florida had the highest number of prisoners held in private prisons in the United States, with a total of ****** prisoners, followed by Texas, Arizona, and Georgia, and Tennessee. ** states did not have any prisoners held in private prisoners in that year. Private prisons in the U.S. The United States is home to the highest prison population per capita of all OECD countries, resulting in a consistent overcrowding of prisons which has negatively affected the criminal justice system for decades. The privatization of prison facilities was initially proposed as a solution to a lack of funding and an increasing demand for more jail space, leading to around *** percent of the U.S. prison population currently behind bars in private prisons. In 2021, ****** prisoners were held in in-state private prison facilities in the United States, compared to ****** prisoners held in out-of-state private prisons. Arguments on private prisons Advocates of private prisons proposed that privatization could lead to cost reductions, suggesting that allowing the private industry to operate prison facilities would save taxpayers money. However, the increasing reliance on private prison facilities has been criticized politically in the U.S. for catering to profit-seeking corporations as well as for the tendency to hold people in immigrant detention in these privately run facilities. In 2021, the highest share of revenue reported by the two largest for-profit prison companies in the U.S. was from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In addition, Republican Senator Marco Rubio from Florida, who is well-known for his positive stance on strengthening border security, was also found to receive the most money from the private prison industry than any other federal politician in the 2022 election cycle.

The incarceration rate in Russia, calculated as the prison population per 100 thousand people, was observed at 328.1 on January 31, 2021, marking a decline compared to the previous year. In 2011, the rate was significantly higher, measuring at 527.

The South American nation with the highest prison population rate in 2024 was Uruguay, with 449 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Brazil, with 389 prisoners. The country in South America with the lowest prison population rate was Ecuador, with 179 per 100,000 persons.

In 2021, Switzerland's incarceration rate was 72.9 per 100,000 population. During the period between 2008 and 2021 Switzerland had it's highest incarceration rate in the year 2013 when it was 88 and was its lowest in the most recent year.

In 2024, there were approximately ****** white prisoners in England and Wales, compared with ****** Black prisoners, and ***** Asian prisoners.

In 2024, there were ***** Albanians imprisoned in England and Wales, the highest foreign nationality in that year. Additionally, there were *** Polish nationals in jail, and *** Romanians, the second, and third-highest among foreign nationalities.

In Texas, three people were executed in 2020, the highest number of any U.S. state. A ranking of the most dangerous cities in the world based on murder rate per capita can be found here.

As of June 2024, 35,000 prisoners were incarcerated for property crime, the most common crime charged. Moreover, 27,000 individuals were convicted of crime against the person, whereas 12,000 inmates committed drug-related crimes. As of October 2024, the number of prisoners in Italy was 62,110. Data related to the age of prisoners show that individuals aged between 50 and 59 years constituted the largest group of incarcerated population in Italy.

Turks and Caicos Islands saw a murder rate of ***** per 100,000 inhabitants, making it the most dangerous country for this kind of crime worldwide as of 2024. Interestingly, El Salvador, which long had the highest global homicide rates, has dropped out of the top 29 after a high number of gang members have been incarcerated. Meanwhile, Colima in Mexico was the most dangerous city for murders. Violent conflicts worldwide Notably, these figures do not include deaths that resulted from war or a violent conflict. While there is a persistent number of conflicts worldwide, resulting casualties are not considered murders. Partially due to this reason, homicide rates in Latin America are higher than those in Afghanistan or Syria. A different definition of murder in these circumstances could change the rate significantly in some countries. Causes of death Also, noteworthy is that murders are usually not random events. In the United States, the circumstances of murders are most commonly arguments, followed by narcotics incidents and robberies. Additionally, murders are not a leading cause of death. Heart diseases, strokes and cancer pose a greater threat to life than violent crime.

Mexico had nearly 233,300 prisoners as of December 2023, around 7,200 prisoners more than the prior year. The volume of imprisoned people in the country followed an increasing trend from 2018 to 2023. Prison population That figure places Mexico among the countries with the largest number of prisoners in the world. However, when taking into account incarceration rates, that is, the number of prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants, Mexico falls out of the ranking and is, actually, one of the Latin American and Caribbean countries with the lowest rates, exceeded by far by countries like El Salvador and Cuba, which register four times the prison population rate of Mexico.People aged 30 to 39 years made up for the largest share of prisoners in Mexico. However, the share of people deprived of liberty whose age ranged from 18 to 29 years was significantly largest in the case of women, with 32.1 percent of female prisoners pertaining to such age group, while in the case of men it fell to 25.1 percent. Regarding female inmates, approximately a tenth have been pregnant while being in jail. Furthermore, theft was the most commonly committed crime by women in Mexican states' penitentiary centers in 2022, followed by kidnapping and homicide. Preventive prison The main reason for the rapid growth of prison population in Mexico in recent years is the 2019 reform of the article 19 of the Constitution, which has led to the spread of pretrial detention. Pretrial detention is a measure that leads to the imprisonment of people automatically while they are still being investigated, without having been sentenced, and can last up to two years. The reform allowed for automatic preventive imprisonment for a wider range of crimes than before, with the new list including fuel theft (huachicoleo) and burglary, among others. This affects particularly vulnerable people from poor backgrounds, with low education and who commit petty crimes. As of December 2020, 78.6 percent of pre-trial detainees for robbery in Mexico had not been sentenced, which means that less than a fourth of people in jail for robbery had been found guilty in court. The country had an even higher share of unsentenced prisoners for drug trafficking, with 87.8 percent of people being in preventive detention without charge.. One of the reasons behind the high share of prisoners awaiting sentence is the large number of simultaneous cases that public defenders have to attend to. Depending on the Mexican state in which someone is being prosecuted, a public defender can have up to an average of 336.9 simultaneous cases to defend.