Before you play

What The Prison Rate Measures

This game compares prison population rates from World Prison Brief.

  • The rate is based on incarcerated people per 100,000 of the national population, not a crime rate.
  • The list includes countries and territories, and the page sometimes marks values as estimates.
  • Pick the place with the higher incarceration rate, or SAME when the listed rates match.

A prison rate can rise because of policing, pre-trial detention, sentencing policy, overcrowding, or authoritarian control, not just recorded crime.