EU countries by prison population rate

Lithuania had the highest prison population rate of 26 EU countries in 2014, at 293.4 per 100,000 people. Finland had the lowest, at 57.8 per 100,000 people. The median was 108.3 per 100,000 people. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Highest293.4Lithuania

Lowest57.8Finland

Median108.326 EU countries

Map of EU countries, 2014

Under 74
74 to 100
100 to 140
140 to 180
180 and over
No data

per 100,000 people, 2014. Hatched areas have no value for this period. Source: Eurostat, Prison capacity and number of persons held, actual number held per 100,000 inhabitants (crim_pris_cap). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2014

per 100,000 people. Source: Eurostat, Prison capacity and number of persons held, actual number held per 100,000 inhabitants (crim_pris_cap). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	EU countries	2014 per 100,000 people	Change on 2013
1	Lithuania	293.4	-18.2 pts
2	Latvia	237.1	-16.7 pts
3	Estonia	230.6	-5.1 pts
4	Poland	208.7	-1.9 pts
5	Slovakia	185	+4.8 pts
6	Hungary	181.1	+1.1 pts
7	Czechia	177.5	+19.2 pts
8	Romania	151.2	-15.8 pts
9	Spain	139.8	-3.1 pts
10	Malta	136.6	-9.4 pts
11	Portugal	136.2	-2.4 pts
12	Luxembourg	113.9	-8.3 pts
13	Bulgaria	108.6	-12.6 pts
14	Greece	108	-7.4 pts
15	Austria	102.2	-2.7 pts
16	France	100.5	-1.8 pts
17	Italy	90.1	-16.9 pts
18	Croatia	88.6	-13.5 pts
19	Ireland	82	-7 pts
20	Germany	78.3	-4 pts
21	Slovenia	73.8	+7.8 pts
22	Netherlands	70.9	-4.9 pts
23	Denmark	63.7	-9.3 pts
24	Cyprus	62	-1.9 pts
25	Sweden	60.2	+0.3 pts
26	Finland	57.8	-3 pts

Other periods

About this ranking

Persons held in prison per 100,000 inhabitants, including pre-trial detainees, counted on one reference day of the year (Eurostat crime and criminal justice statistics).

Countries count on different reference days, mostly 1 September or 31 December. The US imprisonment rate (imprisonment_rate) counts only prisoners sentenced to more than 1 year, so it is not comparable.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the EU countries are compared on one definition. 1 EU countries with data in other periods have no value for 2014 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

Eurostat. Prison capacity and number of persons held, actual number held per 100,000 inhabitants (crim_pris_cap). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/crim_pris_cap/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

Eurostat, European Commission. (2026). Prison capacity and number of persons held, actual number held per 100,000 inhabitants (crim_pris_cap) (EU countries by prison population rate, 2014) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/crim_pris_cap/default/table

MLA 9

Prison capacity and number of persons held, actual number held per 100,000 inhabitants (crim_pris_cap), EU countries by prison population rate, 2014. Eurostat, European Commission, 29 Apr. 2026, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/crim_pris_cap/default/table. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/prison-population-rate/eu-countries?period=2014. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Eurostat, European Commission. 2026. Prison capacity and number of persons held, actual number held per 100,000 inhabitants (crim_pris_cap). EU countries by prison population rate, 2014. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/crim_pris_cap/default/table. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/prison-population-rate/eu-countries?period=2014.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2026) Prison capacity and number of persons held, actual number held per 100,000 inhabitants (crim_pris_cap), EU countries by prison population rate, 2014 [Dataset]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/crim_pris_cap/default/table, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/prison-population-rate/eu-countries?period=2014 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_prison_2014,
  author = {{Eurostat, European Commission}},
  title = {{Prison capacity and number of persons held, actual number held per 100,000 inhabitants (crim\_pris\_cap): EU countries by prison population rate, 2014}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/crim_pris_cap/default/table},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/prison-population-rate/eu-countries?period=2014. Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Prison capacity and number of persons held, actual number held per 100,000 inhabitants (crim\_pris\_cap). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/crim\_pris\_cap/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - Eurostat, European Commission
TI  - Prison capacity and number of persons held, actual number held per 100,000 inhabitants (crim_pris_cap): EU countries by prison population rate, 2014
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/04/29
PB  - Eurostat, European Commission
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/crim_pris_cap/default/table
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/prison-population-rate/eu-countries?period=2014
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/prison-population-rate/eu-countries?period=2014.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Prison capacity and number of persons held, actual number held per 100,000 inhabitants (crim_pris_cap). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/crim_pris_cap/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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rank_places {"indicator":"prison_population_rate","level":"country","within":"European Union (27)","limit":10}
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Questions

Which EU country has the highest prison population rate?

Lithuania, with 293.4 per 100,000 people in 2014, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest prison population rate?

Finland, with 57.8 per 100,000 people in 2014.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: Eurostat, European Commission, Prison capacity and number of persons held, actual number held per 100,000 inhabitants (crim_pris_cap). Retrieved 2026-10-12. 1 EU countries have no value for 2014 and are not ranked.