Since around 2000, the world’s prison population has increased by 27%. In Africa, the prison population increased by 53%, which is less than the continent’s general population growth of 78%.
Since around 2000, the world’s prison population has grown by 27%, which is slightly slower than the estimated 31% growth in the world’s total population over the same period.
Notably, the World Prison Population List shows considerable variation between different regions of the world. The World Prison Population List details the number of prisoners in 223 prison systems across independent countries and territories.
In Africa, the prison population increased by 53%, which is less than the continent’s general population growth of 78%. A large part of this difference is due to Rwanda, where even though many people have been released since 2000, the prison population remains high due to people detained in connection with the 1994 genocide. many. If you take Rwanda out of the equation, Africa’s prison population has increased by 65% since 2000.
In the Americas, the prison population has increased by 39% since 2000, largely due to trends in the United States, which has by far the largest prison population.
There are significant differences even within the same continent. For example, in Africa, West African countries have a median incarceration rate of 50 people, while Southern African countries have a median incarceration rate of 243 people.
According to the World Prison Population List, this figure includes both pretrial detainees (prisoners on remand) and individuals who have been convicted and sentenced. This information reflects the latest data available as of early April 2024.
Below are the top 10 African countries with the highest prison populations.
Rank Country Prison Population 1 South Africa 157,056 2 Egypt 120,000 3 Ethiopia 110,000 4 Morocco 103,302 5 Algeria 94,749 6 Rwanda 89,034 7 Nigeria 77,934 8 Uganda 75,764 9 Kenya 58,887 10 Democratic Republic of the Congo 44, 536
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