All Locked Up

It will not come as much of a surprise to most to know that the United States is number one in the world in terms of the number of its citizens that are locked away in prisons. It is not however the highest in terms of the number of its citizens locked away per 100,000 people. That dubious honor currently goes to Russia. Below is a chart that is accurate as of August 2007 of the top 20 countries worldwide for total prison inmate populations plus their incarceration rates per 100,000 citizens. The list is not complete because some countries, like North Korea for example, refuse to release their figures.

Country --- Incarceration rate (per 100,000) --- Total inmate Pop.
1. United States ---------666 ---------------------- 1,800,000
2. China ---------- -------103 -----------------------1,236,000
3. Russia ---------------- 690 -----------------------1,017,000
4. India -------------------24----- --------------------216,400
5. Ukraine ---------------390-------------------------204,000
6. South Africa---- ------265-------------------------110,000
7. Thailand-------- -------181------------------------106,700
8. Germany-------- -------85 -------------------------68,400
9. Poland -----------------170-------------------------65,800
10. South Korea----------137-------------------------61,000
11. France-----------------95------------------------- 53,700
12. Belarus ---------------505-------------------------52,000
13. England---------------100 ------------------------ 51,250
14. Turkey-------- --------80------------------------- 49,900
15. Italy----------- --------85------ -------------------47,300
16. Japan------------------37------------------------- 46,600
17. Romania-------------200------------------------- 45,300
18. Bangladesh---- -------37 -------------------------44,100
19. Spain-----------------105------------------------- 40,100
20. Canada --------------115------ -------------------33,900