The Western European Nations Imprisoning the Most People

England and Wales have the highest imprisonment rates of western Europe. According to data from the World Prison Brief, as many as 146 prisoners per 100,000 of the population were counted in the two countries in 2023. Scotland and Northern Ireland also have imprisonment rates well above the western European average of 83 prisoners per 100,000 population, at 144 and 98, respectively. This means that out of the eight countries with the highest rates in Europe, countries in the UK take three spots.

To put this into context, the figure for England and Wales is more than double that of either the Netherlands (65 prisoners per 100,000) or Germany (67 prisoners per 100,000). Countries with far lower imprisonment rates in western Europe include Iceland (36 per 100,000), Finland (51 per 100,000) and Norway (57 per 100,000).