Law in Charts · Courts, police and prisons
People in prison per 100,000 inhabitants, over time
How has the prison population rate moved in several European countries since 2008?
persons held in prison per 100,000 inhabitants
Source: Eurostat, Prison capacity and number of persons held (crim_pris_cap). Data for 2008 to 2024. What it counts, how to cite it and the data
At a glance
- Germany: 90 in 2008, 71 in 2024.
- France: 97 in 2008, 118 in 2024.
- Spain: 161 in 2008, 122 in 2024.
- Italy: 101 in 2008, 108 in 2024.
- Poland: 223 in 2008, 191 in 2024.
- Sweden: 77 in 2008, 107 in 2024.
- Bulgaria: 125 in 2008, 84 in 2024.
- Romania: 127 in 2008, 129 in 2024.
- Ireland: 78 in 2008, 96 in 2024.
The countries shown are a selection of European countries with long data series, chosen for coverage and not for any result.
What it counts
Persons held in prison on a given day, including people waiting for trial, per 100,000 inhabitants.
What it leaves out, and how far to trust a comparison
Changes can follow a change in the law, in sentencing, in how fast trials are, or in how a country counts. A line shows that something changed, not why.
Source
Eurostat: Prison capacity and number of persons held (crim_pris_cap). Source licence: CC BY 4.0. Data retrieved 2026-10-23 to 2026-10-25.
Cite this chart
Free to use in teaching, articles, reports and slides, with credit. Our compilation is licensed CC BY 4.0; the source publishes the underlying data under its own licence, shown below.
Reference (APA style)
TheLawToKnow. (2026). People in prison per 100,000 inhabitants, over time [Chart]. Law in Charts. https://tools.thelawtoknow.com/law-in-charts/prison-population-trend. Data: Eurostat, Prison capacity and number of persons held (crim_pris_cap), https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/crim_pris_cap/default/table (data retrieved 2026-10-23 to 2026-10-25).
Short credit for slides and websites
Chart: TheLawToKnow, Law in Charts (https://tools.thelawtoknow.com/law-in-charts/prison-population-trend). Data: Eurostat.
BibTeX
@misc{prisonpopulationtrend2026,
author = {{TheLawToKnow}},
title = {People in prison per 100,000 inhabitants, over time},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Law in Charts},
url = {https://tools.thelawtoknow.com/law-in-charts/prison-population-trend},
note = {Data: Eurostat, Prison capacity and number of persons held (crim_pris_cap), https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/crim_pris_cap/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-23 to 2026-10-25.}
}Embed this chart on your own page
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Learn more
- Course: Criminal Law
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General information, not legal advice. All charts.