161
people held in prison per 100,000 people, 2022
Moderate trust, 60 of 100 Only WPB counts: UNODC republishes it, so there is nothing independent to check it against.
- UNODC
- WPB
Show the data as a table
| Year | UNODC Data Portal, persons held in prisons | World Prison Brief, prison population rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 344.55 | 256 |
| 2011 | 227.24 | – |
| 2012 | 201.13 | 211 |
| 2013 | 178.73 | – |
| 2014 | 190.19 | 202 |
| 2015 | 179.73 | – |
| 2016 | 195.81 | 210 |
| 2017 | 191.6 | – |
| 2019 | 171.52 | 174 |
| 2021 | 161.65 | 162 |
| 2022 | 162.75 | 161 |
All countriesAll of Botswana's figuresCompare
Botswana among 224 countries
104 have a higher figure and 119 a lower one. Definitions differ between countries, and their years run from 2004 to 2026.
What this number counts
- Counts
- People held in prison, including pre-trial detainees, per 100,000 people
- Where
- Botswana
- When
- Latest available: WPB 2022, UNODC 2022 (a count on one day, or a yearly average where a country reports that)
Where the number comes from (2 sources)
| Source | Figure and year | Definition | Quality | Counts for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
World Prison Brief, prison population rateInstitute for Crime & Justice Policy Research (ICPR), Birkbeck, University of London · Police and justice recordsRetrieved 2026-10-26 | 1612022 | Prison population total including pre-trial detainees and remand prisoners, as given on the WPB country page: 3,971 at 15.12.2022 (Minister of Defence and Security).Rate per 100,000 as published by WPB, rounded to a whole number, based on an estimated national population of 2.46 million at December 2022 (from United Nations figures). Pre-trial detainees and remand prisoners: 22.5% of the total (May 2021). WPB shows the latest figure it has found, so the date differs from country to country. Transcribed from the WPB country page (Overview tab, table "Prison population data") into scripts/prison-population-rate.manual.json; page saved in raw/prison-population-rate/wpb/country/. | 4 of 5 checks
| 100% |
UNODC Data Portal, persons held in prisonsUnited Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) · Police and justice recordsRetrieved 2026-10-26 · Data (Excel file) | 162.752022 | Persons held in prisons, penal or correctional institutions on one day, which UNODC says is typically 31 December of the year, total for both sexes and all ages, sentenced and unsentenced (pre-trial).UNODC asks countries to leave out people held for immigration reasons. Rate per 100,000 from UNODC's population figures (UN World Population Prospects). 3,971 persons held. Latest year in the file. UNODC source codes for this country's series: External/CTS/WPB-ICPR. Raw file: data_cts_prisons_and_prisoners.xlsx (UNODC, last updated 12 July 2026; file dated 30 September 2026). UNODC lists the World Prison Brief among the sources for this series, and its count for 2022 (3,971) is the same as WPB's figure for that year, so it is shown but not counted as a separate source. | 5 of 5 checks
| Not counted |
- WPB100%
Shown but not counted: UNODC (republishes WPB).
How the trust score was worked out
- Quality32 / 40
How well the sources are made
- Agreement15 / 30
Unknown with one source, so set to half
- Independence6 / 20
How many separate ways the number was measured
- Freshness7 / 10
How recent the newest data is
Who reports it, and since when
No source of these kinds: death and health registers, independent count.
- Single source: nothing to check it against
- WPB: no figure here for 6 years between 2010 and 2022
- UNODC: no figure here for 2018, 2020
figure no figure here, inside its range no later figure recorded change
Why the numbers differ
- Counting day: UNODC asks for the number held on one day, usually 31 December; SPACE counts on 31 January; the World Prison Brief shows the most recent figure it has found, which can be from any day or year, and for a few countries is an average over a year.
- Who is included: all three aim to count pre-trial detainees as well as sentenced prisoners. UNODC asks countries to leave out people held for immigration reasons. SPACE asks each prison administration whether its total includes people in police custody, juvenile institutions, psychiatric hospitals, immigration detention or under electronic monitoring, and publishes an adjusted rate without them. WPB takes the national total as published and notes exceptions, such as China counting only sentenced prisoners or the United States including local jails.
- Population denominator: UNODC divides by UN World Population Prospects estimates, SPACE by Eurostat population on 1 January (other sources for a few countries), and WPB by national or UN estimates for the date of the count, rounded to a whole number.
- Copies: WPB takes many European figures from SPACE, and UNODC fills gaps with WPB figures. Where a source says so, or its count is identical, that line is shown but not counted again.
Common mistakes
- Mixing stock and flow: UNODC also publishes "persons entering prison" during a year, which counts admissions, not the number held on one day. (source, retrieved 2026-10-26)
- Comparing rates with different bases: some national agencies publish imprisonment rates per 100,000 adults, or for sentenced prisoners only, which are not comparable with rates per 100,000 of the whole population including pre-trial detainees.
- Treating SPACE's adjusted rate as the official figure: the report says adjusted figures are comparable estimates, not official national data. (source, retrieved 2026-10-26)
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From the table How many people are in prison in each country? Updated 2026-10-26.
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Cite as: RealStats, “Prison population rate in Botswana”, updated 2026-10-26, with the original sources listed on the page.