USA 5% of the world’s population, but almost 25% of the world’s total prison population..
From Washington Post in April 2015
A quote by Hillary Rodham Clinton (D), speech on criminal justice at Columbia University, April 29, 2015
It’s a stark fact that the United States has less than five percent of the world’s population, yet we have almost 25 percent of the world’s total prison population. The numbers today are much higher than they were 30, 40 years ago despite the fact that crime is at historic lows.”
US population: 319 million at July 4, 2014
US prisoner population: 2.24 million prisoners at Dec. 31, 2011.
World Population: 7.1 billion
World prison population 10.2 million
These figures appear to exclude: North Korea, China and Iran, and maybe some others, according to the above report.
Prison Population rates
716 prisoners per 100,000 people United States (In Adult Facilities)
186 prisoners per 100,000 Adults Australia
North Korea is estimated at about 700 per 100,000
One source www.prisonstudies.org gives these numbers of prisoners in the World, with a total of 10,325,373 worldwide
These were the top ten countries:
2,217,000 United States of America
1,657,812 China
644,696 Russian Federation
607,731 Brazil
411,992 India
314,303 Thailand
255,138 Mexico
225,624 Iran
165,033 Turkey
161,692 Indonesia
83.1 - 813,825