The highest prisoner rates per 100 000 in the EU in 2020 were in Slovakia (192.7), Lithuania (190.4), Czechia (180.3), Poland (180.1), Estonia (178.0) and Hungary (171.2). Latvia was just behind on 162.7 prisoners per 100,000 population.
The lowest rates were in Finland (49.8), the Netherlands (63.3), Slovenia (69.1), Sweden (70.7), Denmark (71.5) and Germany (71.6). In 17 out of 26 countries that provided the data, there was a decrease compared to 2019.
However, Latvia has the highest share of female prisoners in custody among all EU member states. In 2020, the highest shares were observed in Latvia (8.3 %), Czechia and Finland (both 8.1 %), Hungary (7.8 %), Slovakia (7.6 %) and Spain (7.3 %). The lowest shares were in Bulgaria (3.1 %), France (3.3 %), Estonia (4.1 %) and Italy (4.2 %). In 2020, the share of women among adult prisoners decreased in 15 out of 24 countries that provided data for both years.
