Section IV: Global Comparisons

Introduction

• Incarcerated population on the planet554: 8,750,000
• Percent of incarcerated population that is in the United States555: 22%
• Percent of global population that is in the United States556: 4.6%

• Percent of countries with rising prison populations557: 69%
• Percent of countries with prison populations below 150 per 100,000 national population558: 63%

This page is an excerpt from The Prison Index: Taking the Pulse of the Crime Control Industry (April 2003) by Peter Wagner, published by the Western Prison Project and the Prison Policy Initiative.

Footnotes

554 Roy Walmsley, World Prison Population List, 3rd edition, p. 1.

555 Calculation, based on Roy Walmsley, World Prison Population List, 3rd edition, p. 1.

556 Calculation based on the estimated U.S. population of 289,948,581 and the world population 6,265,656,384 at http://www.census.gov at 7:04pm on Dec 31, 2002.

557 Roy Walmsley, World Prison Population List, 3rd edition, p. 1.

558 Roy Walmsley, World Prison Population List, 3rd edition, p. 1.