Countries With The Highest Number of Prisoners Per Population

It's interesting to note that the United States of America tops the list, with 716 Prison Population Rate (per 100,000 of national population) ie 716 prisoners out of a population of 100,000.

While Nigeria has a Prison Population Rate of 32 prisoners out of a population of 100,000. India 30, Norway 71, Australia 130, Saudi Arabia 162, Brazil 274 and South Africa 289.

Sadly in the USA, approximately 12%-13% of the American population is African-American, but they make up 40.1% of the almost 2.1 million male inmates in jail or prison (U.S. Department of Justice, 2009).


This is referred to as "The New Black Slavery"- the Inmates produce items or perform services for almost every major industry. They sew clothes, fight fires and build furniture, but they are paid little or no wages, somewhere between 5 cents and almost $2.

Nearly one in 3 African American males aged 20–29 are under some form of criminal justice supervision whether imprisoned, jailed, on parole or probation in the USA (According to America Community Survey).

Below is the Prison Population Rates per 100,000 of the national population, for the 11 highest ranked countries in the world.

Prison Population Rates per 100,000 of the national population- Top 11

1	United States of America	716
2	Seychelles	709
3	St. Kitts and Nevis	701
4	Virgin Islands (U.S.A.)	539
5	Cuba	510
6	Rwanda	492
7	Anguilla (United Kingdom)	487
8	Russian Federation	479
9	Belize	476
10	Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)	460
11	Bahamas	444

For More, Go To Source Link: World Prison Brief

Interesting Link: America’s New Slavery: Black Men in Prison