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.

The United States had the highest rate of prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants of the G7 countries between 2010 and 2021. In 2021, there were more than 520 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants in the country. By comparison, the United Kingdom, who had the second highest prisoner rate, had less than 108 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants. Japan had the lowest rate at 36.

With approximately 1.7 million prisoners, China had by far the biggest prison population across the Asia-Pacific region in 2022. In contrast, less than one thousand people were incarcerated in Brunei and Timor-Leste, respectively.

Prison populations and total populations

The varying size of prison populations throughout Asia-Pacific can be attributed to the size of the general populations across the region's countries and territories. With a population of over 1.4 billion, China is the most populous country in the world. Despite the disparity in population size, Bhutan, which had one of the smallest prison populations in APAC in 2022, had a higher serious assault rate than other Asia-Pacific counties.

Crime rates

Apart from the general population size, there are other factors which can be taken into consideration, such as a diversity in justice systems. Therefore, a comparison of crime throughout the region can be challenging. Although China had a higher prison population, it had a lower intentional homicide rate compared to other Asia-Pacific countries and territories. New Zealand, Singapore, and Hong Kong have the lowest corruption index scores in the region, whereas countries including Bangladesh, Cambodia, and North Korea have recorded the highest scores.

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.

The Latin America and Caribbean nation with the highest prison population rate in 2024 was El Salvador, with 1.086 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants, the only country to achieve four digits, followed by Cuba with 794 prisoners. Guatemala and Haiti Jamaica had the lowest prison population rates, 123 and 63 per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively.

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.

Cuba is one of the Caribbean nations with the highest prison population rate as of August 2024. According to the latest data available at that time, there were 794 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants on this island, followed by the Bahamas, with 409 prisoners per 100,000 population. In some Caribbean countries, over 10 percent of the prison population were foreign nationals.

In 2025, there were around 576 prisoners per one hundred thousand of the population in Turkmenistan. In contrast, there were about 33 prisoners per one hundred thousand of the population in Japan that year.

In 2024, Haiti had a 302 percent level of occupancy in their prison system, being the country with the highest occupancy rate in the Latin America and the Caribbean. It was followed by Guatemala, with almost 300 percent occupancy rate. Among the top ten countries with the most overcrowded national prison system, Panama had the lowest rate, at 163.1 percent. Regarding prison population, El Salvador and Cuba were the Latin American and Caribbean countries that had the largest rates, both with over 500 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants.

Hong Kong had the largest share of female prisoners as of October 2023, with nearly 20 percent of its detainees being women. Macau had the second highest rate at over 15 percent. In the United States, 10 percent of inmates were women.

As of November 2023, Monaco had the largest share of foreign prisoners with 93 percent of its detainees being foreigners. United Arab Emirates was ranked second, with almost 88 percent of foreign prisoners.

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.

The statistic above provides information about the total prison population per 100,000 population worldwide in 2012, sorted by region. In 2012, about 64.5 people were imprisoned for every 100,000 population in Asia.

The Central American nation with the highest prison occupancy rate, as of March 2024, was Guatemala, when the level stood at 293 percent of its official capacity. El Salvador followed with 236 percent of occupancy level. The lowest prison occupancy rate was found in Belize, which, with 57 percent, was the only country whose prison system was not overcrowded. That year, El Salvador had the highest prison population rate in Central America.

Haiti had a 302 percent prison occupancy rate in 2024, being the country with the most overcrowded prison system in the Caribbean. Grenada followed at a 266.7 percent. Barbados had the lowest rate, at 61.5 percent. On the other hand, Cuba was the country with the highest prison population rate in the Caribbean and Haiti with the lowest as of 2022.

As of September 2023, the Republic of Congo had the highest prison occupancy, with an occupancy level of roughly 616.9 percent. Haiti had the second highest prison occupancy, at 454.4 percent.

Among the Caribbean countries included in this statistic, the nation with the highest share of foreign prisoners among the total prison population was Antigua and Barbuda, with nearly 31 percent of foreign nationals. Barbados ranked second, at approximately 14 percent of foreign prisoners.

Among the countries surveyed, French Guiana had the highest share of foreign prisoners in South America with 63 percent of the prison population being foreign nationals. It was followed by Suriname, with 19.3 percent of foreign prisoners. Brazil had a notably low rate of foreign prisoners, merely 0.3 percent.