Explore the top 50 countries with the highest prison populations per capita, including El Salvador, Cuba, and the United States. This ranking highlights the nations with significant incarceration rates, reflecting unique social, economic, and legal challenges in each region. Discover the latest global prison population data and insights into factors influencing incarceration.
Ranking of Countries by Highest Prison Population per Capita: Global Incarceration Rates:
1. 🇸🇻 El Salvador: 1,086
2. 🇨🇺 Cuba: 794
3. 🇷🇼 Rwanda: 637
4. 🇹🇲 Turkmenistan: 576
5. 🇺🇸 United States: 531
6. 🇦🇸 American Samoa: 538
7. 🇹🇴 Tonga: 516
8. 🇵🇦 Panama: 522
9. 🇵🇼 Palau: 478
10. 🇻🇬 British Virgin Islands: 447
11. 🇬🇩 Grenada: 413
12. 🇹🇭 Thailand: 391
13. 🇸🇨 Seychelles: 393
14. 🇧🇿 Belize: 382
15. 🇱🇹 Lithuania: 357
16. 🇧🇸 Bahamas: 349
17. 🇺🇾 Uruguay: 340
18. 🇧🇸 Barbados: 337
19. 🇦🇬 Antigua & Barbuda: 327
20. 🇱🇺 Saint Lucia: 324
21. 🇧🇼 Botswana: 318
22. 🇲🇽 Mexico: 317
23. 🇧🇷 Brazil: 312
24. 🇧🇭 Bahrain: 302
25. 🇷🇺 Russia: 300
26. 🇯🇲 Jamaica: 296
27. 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates: 289
28. 🇲🇦 Morocco: 286
29. 🇬🇹 Guatemala: 283
30. 🇻🇪 Venezuela: 278
31. 🇵🇾 Paraguay: 275
32. 🇵🇭 Philippines: 271
33. 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone: 265
34. 🇦🇲 Armenia: 262
35. 🇮🇶 Iraq: 259
36. 🇳🇨 New Caledonia: 257
37. 🇦🇱 Albania: 245
38. 🇱🇻 Latvia: 243
39. 🇸🇬 Singapore: 238
40. 🇹🇳 Tunisia: 236
41. 🇵🇱 Poland: 230
42. 🇱🇮 Liechtenstein: 228
43. 🇬🇪 Georgia: 225
44. 🇵🇦 Peru: 223
45. 🇸🇷 Suriname: 220
46. 🇸🇩 Sudan: 218
47. 🇮🇱 Israel: 217
48. 🇨🇴 Colombia: 215
49. 🇳🇴 Norway: 213
50. 🇱🇺 Luxembourg: 210
Note on the Ranking:
This ranking reflects prison population per 100,000 people, highlighting countries with the highest incarceration rates. Various factors contribute to these figures, including social policies, crime rates, judicial practices, and governmental approaches to law enforcement. High rankings may reflect strict sentencing, crime levels, and the prevalence of certain social and economic issues that lead to higher incarceration rates. Countries like El Salvador and the United States are prominent due to high crime rates or strict punitive systems, while others, such as Cuba and Turkmenistan, may have unique socio-political conditions impacting their prison population.
Sources:
- World Prison Brief – Comprehensive global data on prison populations, providing insights into per capita incarceration rates across countries.
- Statista – Current statistics on prison population rates worldwide, highlighting differences in regional incarceration policies.
- Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research (ICPR) – Detailed analysis of prison data and research on factors influencing incarceration across the globe.
These rankings show countries with the highest prison populations relative to their overall population, which can reflect factors like crime rates, sentencing practices, and law enforcement policies. El Salvador, Cuba, and the United States have some of the highest incarceration rates globally due to different social, economic, and legal contexts.
