Prison overcrowding remains a critical challenge in one-third of European prison administrations, according to the Council of Europe's 2024 Annual Penal Statistics on Prison Populations (SPACE I).
Overall, in Europe, the number of inmates per 100 places available increased from 93.5 to 94.9 from 31 January 2023 to 31 January 2024, with significant differences across countries. In countries with over 500,000 inhabitants, fifteen prison administrations reported having more inmates than places available. Six prison administrations reported severe overcrowding: Slovenia (134 inmates per 100 places), Cyprus (132), France (124), Italy (118), Romania (116) and Belgium (113).
Another eight prison administrations reported moderate overcrowding: Croatia (110), Ireland (105), Sweden (105), Hungary (104), Azerbaijan (103), Finland (103), Türkiye (102) and North Macedonia (101). In addition, the prison administrations of Scotland (100) and England and Wales (98) (UK), as well as Serbia (98), operated at or near full capacity, where minor fluctuations in prison admissions could tip their systems into overcrowding.
On 31 January 2024, there were 1,021,431 inmates detained in the 51 prison administrations of Council of Europe member states, representing a median prison population rate of 105 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants across the continent. Considering prison administrations from countries with a population exceeding one million inhabitants that submitted data for both 2023 and 2024, the median European prison population rate slightly decreased, from 116.2 to 115.1 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants (-0.9%).
Thirteen prison administrations experienced a significant increase in their prison population rates from January 2023 to January 2024, in countries with over 500,000 inhabitants: Slovenia (+25.4%), Sweden (+15.5%), Malta (+11.1%), Serbia (+9.4%), Croatia (+8.3%), Azerbaijan (+8.3%), Italy (+7.8%), Albania (+7.5%), UK (Northern Ireland) (+6.9%), Belgium (+6.8%), UK (Scotland (+6.7%), UK (England and Wales) (+6.4%) and Ireland (+5.4%). Incarceration rates fell substantially only in Bulgaria (-14.5%), Luxembourg (-14.5%), Türkiye (-12.9%), Estonia (-12%), Lithuania (-9.4%) and Hungary (-7.3%), while remaining stable in 24 prison administrations.
The countries with the highest incarceration rates were Türkiye (356 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants), Azerbaijan (264), Georgia (261), Republic of Moldova (235), Poland (202), Hungary (195), Albania (192), Czechia (180), Slovakia (179), Serbia (177), Latvia (175) and Montenegro (164). Other countries with high incarceration rates included Lithuania (158), the UK (England and Wales) (145) and North Macedonia (143).
"Overcrowding seriously undermines the living conditions of the prison population and the rehabilitation efforts of the prison administrations. Data on the length of imprisonment show that shorter average detention periods tend to correlate with lower prison population rates. Although there are exceptions to this pattern, this relationship highlights the importance of sentence duration as a lever to manage prison overcrowding. In addition to promoting alternative sanctions to imprisonment, reducing sentence lengths, especially for non-violent and low-risk offenders, can be a powerful tool for lowering incarceration rates," said Professor Marcelo Aebi, Head of the SPACE research team from the University of Lausanne.
SPACE I - Council of Europe's 2024 Annual Penal Statistics on Prison Populations
Key findings of the Council of Europe's 2024 Annual Penal Statistics on Prison Populations
Press release
