Female prison population growing faster than male, worldwide

Female prison population growing faster than male, worldwide

According to the sixth edition of the World Female Imprisonment List, authored by Helen Fair and Roy Walmsley, over 733,000 women and girls are currently incarcerated worldwide. This List, published by the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research (ICPR) at Birkbeck, University of London, provides detailed information on female prisoners in nearly every country. It also highlights trends in female imprisonment by country, region, and continent.

The key findings from the report are:

  • The United States has the highest number of female prisoners, with approximately 174,607. Other countries with significant female prison populations are China (145,000), Brazil (50,441), Russia (39,153), and Thailand (33,057).
  • The number of women and girls in prison has risen particularly sharply in some countries since 2000; notably in:
    • Cambodia – more than nine times as many female prisoners
    • Indonesia – more than seven times
    • El Salvador – more than seven times
    • Guatemala – almost six times
    • Brazil – five times

Women and girls make up 6.8% of the global prison population. The countries with the highest female prison population rate (per 100,000 of the national population) are the USA (52), Thailand (47), El Salvador (42), Rwanda (41) and Turkmenistan (38). 

In both Asia and Oceania, the total number of female prisoners has more than doubled since 2000. Europe, in contrast, has seen a fall (of 5%) in the female prison population, but if the figures for Russia are excluded the European female prison population has risen by nearly 25%.

Helen Fair, Compiler of the World Female Imprisonment List, says:

The sustained and substantial rise in the numbers of women and girls in prison across much of the world is a cause of profound concern. Many female prisoners have histories of poverty, mental illness and sexual and physical victimisation. Their incarceration makes little contribution to public safety, while imposing high financial and social costs. We hope that the data starkly presented in this World Female Imprisonment List will support and strengthen calls to bring an end to unnecessary, damaging imprisonment of women and girls. 

Catherine Heard, Director of ICPR’s World Prison Research Programme, says: 

The rapid rise in female imprisonment across so much of the world is a troubling sign of our times. Many women are serving short prison sentences, or are remanded in custody pre-trial, despite clear evidence that even brief spells in prison cause lasting and severe harm to women and their children. Prison is too commonly used to punish conduct associated with poverty, such as shop-lifting, small-scale drug offences, and sex work. Incarcerating women for such offences steals resources away from the investment needed to build stronger, safer communities.