Top 10 Countries With The Most Prisoners (2023)

The crime rate of the world is one of the reasons crippling global and even development. One will wonder how the United States with adequate social infrastructure and technological advancement will make the list and even be first of the top 10 countries with the most prisoners in the world in 2023.

Many nations around the world are having difficulty developing due to corruption and crime. They are unable to come up with a strategy that will effectively address these issues and end them once and for all.

Despite this enormous difficulty, it can be argued that they are still motivated to send criminals and lawbreakers to their rightful place in prison. Because certain states don’t have very high crime rates as compared to others around the world, the number of convicts varies by nation.

This article aim at highlighting some of the nations that have consistently recorded the most significant prisoner populations over time. When your beloved country is mentioned, don’t be astonished. It is what it is.

According to World Population Review, the total number of reported crimes of any kind is divided by the entire population, and the result is multiplied by 100,000 to determine the get crime rate (because the crime rate is typically reported as X number of crimes per 100,000 people).

As you might know, the prevalence of crime varies widely between nations and is affected by numerous variables. For instance, a nation’s crime rate tends to increase when poverty and unemployment are high. That said, move with us as we discuss in detail the top 10 countries with the most prisoners in the world.

Key Takeaways

• The United States is the country with the most prisoners in the world
• With over 1 billion people, China accounts for over 1.7 million prisoners
• Central African Republic has the world’s lowest prison rate of any country, with prisoners representing just 16% out of every 100,000 of the population.

1. United States

Top 10 Countries With The Most Prisoners-United States

With over 2 million prisoners in their bay, the United States is the country with the most prisoners in the world. It is no news that the United States population is equivalent to 4.25% of the total world population.

Since jail facilities are being created to house these numbers of criminals, this will cost the US government money. With a total of 2,239,751, it may be predicted that the government will spend more money on inmates than it has in the past.

According to FBI data, the longer-term trend for violent crime in the US has usually been downward since the 1990s, even though over the previous few years it has stayed fairly consistent.

Although police departments in the US define violent crime in slightly different ways, the statistics often include rape, assault, robbery, and murder. Per 100,000 persons, there were more than 500 violent offences in 2000. That number dropped to just around 400 in 2022.

According to their Prison Policy, the fact that there are thousands of federal, state, local, and tribal “criminal justice systems” in the United States instead of just one further complicates matters.

2. China

Countries With The Most Prisoners-China prison

We all know China is the world’s most populated country with over 1 billion people. And shouldn’t come as a surprise to see them on the list of the top 10 countries with the most prisoners in the world.

According to Wikipedia, China is said to have the second-highest jail population behind the United States, with an estimated 1.7 million inmates (USA). The country has a 121 per 100,000 national population per capita incarceration rate.

Although there are recent imprisonments in China that have failed to align with international standards, with the consent of their Supreme People’s Court, China continued to utilize the death penalty.

Additionally, there is a system of the death penalty with a reprieve in which the sentence is deferred until the defendant commits another significant crime within two years of being imprisoned.

As a means of preventing the police from gaining excessive authority, some people have advocated for the government to utilize community correction more frequently and for the Ministry of Justice to oversee administrative detainees.

3. Brazil

Top 10 Countries With The Most Prisoners-Brazil prison

The number of prisoners in Brazil is estimated at 759,518. Therefore, the country is third on our list of the top 10 countries with the most prisoners in the world.

Perhaps the most fundamental and pervasive issue afflicting Brazil’s correctional system is severe overcrowding. In order to accommodate the current inmate population, national prison authorities predicted that the country’s jails would need an additional 50,934 spaces.

Since then, despite some recent attempts to address the issue, the discrepancy between the capacity that is available and the actual number of detainees has only become worse.

Due to the increase in the number of prisoners, the prison capacity gap was officially assessed at 96,010 by 1997. In other words, there are 2.3 convicts who can claim each available space in the prisons.

4. India

Countries With The Most Prisoners-India prison

Although India’s prisoner rate is lower compared to the countries mentioned above, it still lacks adequate facilities to accommodate them. In certain prisons, the capacity rates when compared to convicts have gone over 250%.

Many prisoners have been waiting for trials for more than two years now without any resolution. Prison facilities are also subpar. Critics’ attention has been drawn to a number of issues throughout the years, including overcrowding, protracted imprisonment of convicts awaiting trial, bad housing circumstances, a lack of therapeutic programs, and charges of the inattentive and even inhumane behaviour of prisoners in India.

5. Russia

Countries With The Most Prisoners-Russia

With over 475,009 prisoners, Russia is also among the countries with the most prisoners in the world. In 2019 in the administrative divisions of Russia, there were 705 corrective colonies (excluding 7 corrective colonies for prisoners imprisoned for life). In 2019 there were 211 pre-trial facilities, 23 juvenile facilities, and 8 prisons.

The Federal Penitentiary Service is in charge of running prisons in Russia (FSIN). The principal duties of the FSIN include keeping people who have been charged with crimes in custody and ensuring that those who have been convicted of crimes fulfil their criminal sentences. In accordance with Russian law, the FSIN is also in charge of the detainees’ physical welfare and rights.

6. Thailand

Countries With The Most Prisoners-Thailand prison

Thailand is also one of the countries with the most prisoners in the world with 309,282 prisoners in 2023. For every 100,000 citizens, there are approximately 465 prisoners, which is pretty disturbing. In this nation, prisoners engage in a wide variety of activities.

For instance, they might engage in combat for the express intent of gaining money or even notoriety.  Sometimes, by engaging in combat, their sentences can be lowered. Many former prisoners in Thai prisons claim that overcrowding is the most urgent issue that Thai prisoners currently confront.

Considering that conservative international standards call for each prisoner to have 2.25 square meters of surface area for sleeping, the current occupancy rate in Thai prisons is 224%.

Detainees must get 1.1 square meters of area for female inmates and 1.2 square meters for male inmates, according to Thailand’s Department of Corrections. Even with this widely despised norm, the overall occupancy rate of 145% still indicates an overpopulation problem (FIDH, Behind the Wall p. 12 – link to the full report is provided at the end of the article).

7. Turkey

Top 10 Countries With The Most Prisoners-Thailand prison

Turkey is said to house over 281, 094 prisoners which makes it one of the countries with the most prisoners in the world. The capacity of its jails doesn’t seem to be able to adequately accommodate inmates at the moment, which is the most troubling element.

When it comes to the way people are detained, Turkey has been accused of violating human rights on numerous occasions throughout the years. Children have also occasionally been unlawfully detained.

This has made them vulnerable to cruel treatment like rape and torture. Similar problems have plagued the majority of the nation’s prisons for a number of years. The country is also one of five countries within the Council of Europe with the highest rates of suicides in prison.

Physical assaults, beatings, bare-chested searches, interference with access to healthcare, and other arbitrary limitations are on the rise. The steady increase in the jail population since the middle of the 2000s has persisted, according to European organizations like the Anti-Torture Committee, despite the growth of the prison estate and increased use of conditional release.

8. Indonesia

Top 10 Countries With The Most Prisoners-Indonesian prison

Indonesia is eighth on our list of countries with the most prisoners in the world. Despite being well-known for its executions of drug offenders, this nation’s prison population has grown by approximately 100% during the previous ten years.

It is significant to remember that the majority of these detainees are awaiting trials since they have not yet been found guilty. The government and specialists from all over the world are quite concerned about this particular issue.

The Indonesian government came under fire in 2020 after a former prisoner’s Twitter thread revealed the uglier side of the nation’s jail system.

9. Mexico

Top 10 Countries With The Most Prisoners-Mexico prison

Mexico is one of the countries with the most prisoners in the world. Overcrowding is a well-known problem in Mexican prisons, where 46% of those detained share a cell with at least five other inmates and 13% with more than 15. They lack sufficient access to food, water, sanitary facilities, and healthcare.

There are roughly 204,749 convicts in Mexico. As a result, it ranks seventh overall out of all the other nations on the list. This number has dramatically increased as a result of an increase in the typical number of prisoners per 100,000 residents.

In some jails in Mexico, the number of detainees must exceed the capacity by more than 40%, which is quite concerning for both the government and the rest of the world. Mass murders, criminal activity, lax security, and other problems need to be addressed in these jails.

10. Philippines

Countries With The Most Prisoners-Philippines-prison

The Philippines houses an estimated 215,000 prisoners and it is the tenth among the countries with the most prisoners in the world. Like in other nations mentioned above, the most punishing component of serving time in a jail in the Philippines is extreme overcrowding. In jails under the bureau’s supervision, about 35,000 inmates were vying for space in 2001.

Herding people into small quarters is an unhealthy, degrading, and unfair kind of punishment. Overcrowding poses a threat to both human life and health. It spreads illnesses, undermines authority, and heightens tensions. According to prisoners, prison is like a living death because of the constant competition for oxygen and space.

The awful conditions in these institutions are one factor that has sparked a lot of discussion throughout the years. For instance, reports of rape, beatings, bad sanitation, and other crimes have been made. When the population is decreased, these can be controlled.

Top 10 Countries With The Most Prisoners

The table below contains the names and numbers of the countries with the most prisoners in the world

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Conclusion

People who disobey the law or commit crimes are held in prisons as a form of punishment. With almost 2 million prisoners or 655 convicts for every 100,000 people, the United States has the highest jail population ever. With more than 1.7 million convicts, China, the world’s most populous nation, comes in second.

The United States leads the world in the total number of people incarcerated, with more than 2 million prisoners nationwide (per data released in October 2021 by World Prison Brief). This number is equivalent to roughly 25% of the world’s total prison population and leads to an incarceration rate of 629 people per 100,000—the highest rate in the world. We, however, hope you enjoy reading about the top 10 countries with the most prisoners in the world.

Sources: Statista, Wikipedia, World Population Review