This map shows world prison population rates per 100,000 of the national population.

Current world prison population rate: 168 per 100,000 people

Current world prison population total: 9,949,696

How the World Prison Population Data is Compiled?

The World Prison Population List is compiled from a variety of sources. In almost all cases the original source is the national prison administration of the country concerned, or else the Ministry responsible for the prison administration. Most figures relate to dates between the beginning of 2006 and the end of 2009. Since prison population rates (per 100,000 of the national population) are based on estimates of the national population they should not be regarded as precise. In order to compare prison population rates in different regions of the world, and to estimate the number of persons held in prison in the countries for which information is not available, median rates have been used because they minimise the effect of countries with rates that are untypically high or low.

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