Nigeria ranks 27th among countries with highest number of prisoners

Nigeria is currently the 27th-highest prison population country in the world, with 74,059 inmates.

The nation has fewer prisoners than many populated countries around the world, according to World Prison Brief (WPB), a group that compiles data on prisons worldwide.

However, the number of prisoners that each nation maintains is not in line with the inmates’ welfare, rights, or prison facilities.

The data from the WPB match those from Statista, another reliable data source.

“The World Prison Brief (WPB) is a unique database that provides free access to information about prison systems throughout the world. Using data primarily derived from governmental or other official sources, country information is updated monthly, according to the organization’s website.

As of January 31, there were 74,059 prisoners in Nigeria. Despite having the most prisoners in West Africa, the nation is ranked seventh on the continent, trailing only South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Algeria, Morocco, and Rwanda.

South Africa – the 12th on the log – has 144,938 prisoners. China has the highest number with 1,690,000 prisoners, followed by the United States of America, 1,675,400; Brazil, 835,643; India, 554 034; Russian Federation, 439 453; Turkey, 314 502; Thailand, 285 572; and Indonesia 275 518.

Others before South Africa are Mexico, 230 000; Iran, 189 000; and the Philippines, 166 912.

Before Nigeria are Vietnam, 125 697; Egypt, 119 000; Argentina, 114 074; Ethiopia, 110 000; Myanmar, 100 324; Columbia, 98 242; Algeria, 94 749; and Peru, 90 293.

There are also Morocco, 88 941; Pakistan, 85 670; United Kingdom, 82 176; Bangladesh, 81 156; Malaysia, 76 336; and Rwanda, 76 099.

WITHIN NIGERIA reports that with South Africa’s present 61.2 million (61,232,451) population (on Wordometer), dividing the country’s population by its number of prisoners shows that one out of its 422 population lives in prison.

There is one prisoner for every 2,961 people in Nigeria, which has the highest population on the continent at 219.3 million (219,305,878). The nation has 74,059 prisoners.

China has a population of 1.4 billion (1,453,629,085), with one out of every 860 people jailed, given its 1,690,000 inmates.

The United States of America, currently with 335.9 million (335,999,183) people, has 1.6 million (1,675,400) of its population in prison, making one out of every 200 persons in the country serve a jail term.