Countries with the Largest Prison Populations

About This Dataset

The countries holding the largest total number of prisoners, according to the World Prison Brief. Unlike the incarceration rate, this counts absolute numbers, so large-population countries dominate. China's figure excludes pre-trial detainees and people held in administrative detention, so its true total is likely higher.

✨ AI Insight

The United States holds the world's largest prison population at over 1.8 million people, narrowly ahead of China's 1.69 million - and China's official count excludes large numbers of pre-trial and administratively detained people, so the two may be closer or reversed. Together the US and China account for more prisoners than the next ten countries combined. Brazil (850K) and India (573K) form a clear third tier, reflecting their large populations and overburdened justice systems. Russia (282K), Thailand (274K), Indonesia (274K) and Mexico (234K) follow. Because these are raw totals, populous countries naturally rank high; the United States is notable for topping both this list and the per-capita incarceration ranking among major nations.

Source: World Prison Brief (Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research)

Key Findings

Auto-computed highlights from this dataset

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United States leads with 1,808,100 in All Time.

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Average value in All Time: 550,751 · median: 273,909.

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Gap in All Time: United States is 15.1× larger than Egypt.