Law in Charts

One idea, one chart, one source. Each chart answers a single question about law and justice with official numbers, says what the number counts and what it leaves out, and comes with a ready citation, a CSV file and an embed code. Use them in a lecture, an essay, an article or a slide.

Official sources only, with the year of every figure. No chart ranks countries as good or bad: a number measures one thing. Data retrieved 2026-10-23 to 2026-10-25. Part of the comparative law toolkit. The charts also appear inside our courses, where they belong to the lesson.

Courts, police and prisons

Who staffs the justice system, and how full the prisons are.

Crime and violence

Homicide and violence against women, from official statistics.

Marriage and divorce

How often couples marry and divorce, and how young some marry.

Women, work and the law

Women in parliaments and governments, in management and at work, and what the law gives them.

Work and identity

Minimum wages, jobs, accidents at work, children at work and the registration of births and deaths.

Migration and asylum

Asylum applications and decisions, residence permits, citizenship, refugees and migrants.

Business, tax and the economy

How the rules for disputes, insolvency, labour, tax and competition compare, and money, firms and the internet.

Housing and the home

Who owns and who rents, and what housing costs people.

How to use and credit these charts

Every chart page has a Cite this chart box with an APA reference, a short credit line and BibTeX, and an embed code for your own page. Our compilation is under CC BY 4.0: reuse is welcome with credit and a link. The underlying data stays under the licence of the body that publishes it, named on each chart. See also the data licence.

General information, not legal advice. Statistics from different countries are never perfectly comparable, and each chart says why.

Law in Charts

Courts, police and prisons

Professional judges per 100,000 inhabitants

Police officers per 100,000 inhabitants

People in prison per 100,000 inhabitants

How full are the prisons?

People in prison per 100,000 inhabitants, over time

Women among professional judges

Women among police officers

What governments spend on law courts, per inhabitant

What governments spend on law courts, as a share of GDP

What governments spend on police services, per inhabitant

What governments spend on police services, as a share of GDP

What governments spend on prisons, per inhabitant

What governments spend on prisons, as a share of GDP

What governments spend on public order and safety, per inhabitant

What governments spend on public order and safety, as a share of GDP

Prison staff per 100,000 inhabitants

Women among prison staff

Foreign nationals among people in prison

Women among people in prison

Juveniles among people in prison

Crime and violence

Intentional homicides per 100,000 people

Intentional homicides of women per 100,000 women

Intentional homicides per 100,000 people, over time

Women who experienced violence from a partner in the last year

Attempted intentional homicide recorded by the police

Serious assault recorded by the police

Kidnapping recorded by the police

Sexual violence recorded by the police

Rape recorded by the police

Sexual assault recorded by the police

Sexual exploitation recorded by the police

Child sexual abuse material offences recorded by the police

Robbery recorded by the police

Burglary recorded by the police

Burglary of private homes recorded by the police

Theft recorded by the police

Theft of motor vehicles recorded by the police

Drug offences recorded by the police

Fraud recorded by the police

Corruption offences recorded by the police

Bribery recorded by the police

Money laundering recorded by the police

Acts against computer systems recorded by the police

Participation in an organised criminal group recorded by the police

Acts causing environmental pollution recorded by the police

Waste dumping offences recorded by the police

Protected species offences recorded by the police

Marriage and divorce

Divorces per 1,000 inhabitants

Divorces for every 100 marriages

Divorces per 1,000 inhabitants, since 1970

Divorces per 1,000 residents in each US state

Marriages per 1,000 inhabitants, over time

Women first married before the age of 18

Women first married before the age of 15

Births outside marriage

Births outside marriage, over time

Women, work and the law

Women in national parliaments

Women in national parliaments, since 1997

Women in ministerial positions

Women's average hourly pay as a share of men's

Women's average hourly pay as a share of men's, over time

Employment rate of women aged 20 to 64

Do the laws give women and men the same rights?

Firms led by a woman

Women in senior and middle management

Women in the labour force

Women in the labour force, over time

Work and identity

Monthly statutory minimum wage in Europe and the United States

Children whose births are registered

How many asylum decisions were positive?

Employment rate of men aged 20 to 64

Accidents at work causing more than three days' absence

Unemployment

Children aged 7 to 14 who work