List of countries by incarceration rate

This is a list of countries by incarceration rate.

This list is initially sorted alphabetically. Click the sorting cell below the incarceration rate header to sort by rate. The table can be sorted in ascending or descending order. The row number column on the left sorts independently from the columns to the right of it.

In the table below see "United Kingdom" to find the rates for Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales. There is no rate here for the UK as a whole. South Korea is listed under Republic of (South) Korea. For info on North Korea see notes below.

China. The rate of 118 is for sentenced prisoners in 2015 in Ministry of Justice prisons only. International Centre for Prison Studies: "1 649 804 [prisoners] at mid-2015 (via Asian and Pacific Conference of Correctional Administrators - sentenced prisoners in Ministry of Justice prisons only, excluding pre-trial detainees and those held in administrative detention). The Deputy Procurator-General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate reported in 2009 that, in addition to the sentenced prisoners, more than 650,000 were held in detention centres In China. If this was still correct in mid-2015 the total prison population in China was at least 2,300,000. ... 118 [rate] based on an estimated national population of 1.4 billion at mid-2015 (from United Nations figures) – sentenced prisoners in Ministry of Justice prisons only. (A total prison population of 2,300,000 would raise the prison population rate to 164 per 100,000.)" See also: Re-education through labor and Laogai.

North Korea. Little information exists regarding North Korea's incarceration rate. The U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea estimates 150,000 to 200,000 incarcerated based on testimony of defectors from the state police bureau, which roughly equals 600-800 people incarcerated per 100,000. For more info see Prisons in North Korea.

Seychelles also incarcerates some Somali pirates. Subtracting the Somali pirate inmates still leaves the Seychelles with the highest incarceration rate in the world. The incarceration rate was 799 per 100,000 population in 2014. The population of the Seychelles in 2014 was around 92,000. From a May 2013 BBC article: "Here, 66 Somalis are awaiting trial for piracy or, if already convicted, await deportation to serve their sentences back home. ... Here in Seychelles, another 17 were recently flown home to a UN-funded jail in the relatively secure region of Puntland in Somalia, to serve sentences that mostly range between 10 and 20 years – 59 have already been tried and sent back." From a March 2016 article: "There are currently 22 Somalis incarcerated at the Seychelles main detention facility, the Montagne Posée prison. This includes the last group of five that are being prosecuted. Seventeen convicts are awaiting transfer to continue serving their sentences in their homeland."

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