Police and prisons
5 questions, with yearly data from 1998 to 2026.
Questions
| Question | Years | Trust |
|---|---|---|
| How many people are in prison in each country?226 countries people held in prison per 100,000 people | 2004–2026 | 67 Moderate |
| How many people do US police kill each year?1,175 people killed by police, 2024 | 2015–2025 | 56 Low |
| How many police officers does each country have?131 countries police personnel per 100,000 people | 2004–2025 | 68 Moderate |
| What do official statistics say about religion and crime?43.36 % of prisoners in England and Wales recorded as Christian, 30 June 2026 | 1998–2026 | 63 Moderate |
| What share of prisoners in each country are foreign citizens, compared with their share of the population?199 countries % of prisoners who are foreign citizens | 1998–2026 | 63 Moderate |
Longest trends (1)
The longest yearly series on each page, from the source that counts most. Hover or use arrow keys for each year.
- Prisoners in England and Wales: Christian
% of prisoners in England and Wales recorded as Christian, 2002–2026, MoJ prisons
Who publishes what (197 countries, 2 breakdowns)
Years this site has for each country and breakdown. "Stopped" means the country's figures in the UN homicide file stop after that year while its totals continue (reporting gaps). An empty cell means no source on this site, not that none exists.
Recorded changes in how sources report (42)
- 2025, MoJ prisons: Religion and belief codes were streamlined in June 2025 "to facilitate more accurate data entry"; prisoners moved between groups, and figures before 30 June 2025 are "not fully consistent with or comparable to" later ones (Table 1.A.23 note 4). No religion became No faith or belief, Other religious group became Other faith or belief, Agnostic, Atheist, Humanist was added, and Free Church and Non recognised were dropped. source · page
- 2024, NCRB: Prison Statistics India 2024 was first released on 6 May 2026 and replaced by a revised report with West Bengal data; the religion table used here includes West Bengal. In the undertrial table Maharashtra did not provide a breakdown by religion. source · page
- 2023, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Germany in 2023. source · page
- 2022, DoJ NI: Religion was added to the annual report after a user consultation in May/June 2022 that covered "religious group information"; the tables give average daily population by religion from 2015/16. source · page
- 2022, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Croatia in 2022. source · page
- 2021, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Czechia in 2021. source · page
- 2021, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Poland in 2021. source · page
- 2019, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Italy in 2019. source · page
- 2017, NCRB: Religion of convicts is published again from Prison Statistics India 2017, as a separate table (Table 2.10C), with matching tables for undertrials, detenues and other prisoners. source · page
- 2017, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Luxembourg in 2017. source · page
- 2016, NCRB: Prison Statistics India 2016 has no table of prisoners by religion: its table list and its list of additional tables (Methodology, Para D) contain none. Earlier editions had religion in the demographic particulars table. source · page
- 2015, MoJ prisons: On 30 June 2015, 350 prisoners previously recorded in the other religious group were moved to the Other Christian category (Table 1.A.23 note 3). source · page
- 2015, MoJ prisons: On 30 June 2015 prison population statistics moved to a new extract taken directly from Prison-NOMIS; MoJ reports large improvements in data quality (Guide to Offender Management Statistics). source · page
- 2014, Eurostat: From 2014 Eurostat and UNODC collect these figures in one joint annual questionnaire, the UN crime trends survey with Eurostat's additional requests. source · page
- 2014, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for France in 2014. source · page
- 2013, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Romania in 2013. source · page
- 2012, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Belgium in 2012. source · page
- 2012, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for France in 2012. source · page
- 2012, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Ireland in 2012. source · page
- 2011, Scot Gov: Table A.4 of Prison Statistics and Population Projections Scotland 2011-12 (30 June 2011) is the last Scottish Government prison table by religion this site found. The supplementary tables of Scottish Prison Population Statistics 2021-22 cover ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation but not religion. source · page
- 2011, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Belgium in 2011. source · page
- 2011, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Estonia in 2011. source · page
- 2011, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Germany in 2011. source · page
- 2011, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Switzerland in 2011. source · page
- 2010, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Cyprus in 2010. source · page
- 2010, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Poland in 2010. source · page
- 2009, MoJ prisons: A new prison IT system was introduced; 2010 figures come from a different source, and 2009 is published from both the old and the new system (prison population 2015 tables, note 1). This page uses the new-system 2009 column. source · page
- 2009, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Greece in 2009. source · page
- 2009, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Malta in 2009. source · page
- 2009, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Portugal in 2009. source · page
- 2009, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Slovakia in 2009. source · page
- 2009, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Slovenia in 2009. source · page
- 2008, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Austria in 2008. source · page
- 2008, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Bulgaria in 2008. source · page
- 2008, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Latvia in 2008. source · page
- 2007, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for France in 2007. source · page
- 2007, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Ireland in 2007. source · page
- 2004, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Slovakia in 2004. source · page
- 2002, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Lithuania in 2002. source · page
- 2001, Pop. share: Eurostat flags a break in series for Malta in 2001. source · page
2 more on the topic's pages.