Historical trend
Trend summary
Prison population was 86.0k in 2026-05, down from 87.2k in 2026-01.
Trend
- Over the available record (2015-09–2026-05), it has ranged from 77.6k in 2021-03 to 88.1k in 2025-05.
- The latest reading is above the record average of 83.5k.
Context
- Ministry of Justice publishes prison population statistics weekly; quarterly data from the MoJ Population Data Tool covers September 2015 onwards.
- Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate prison systems with separate statistics published by their respective governments.
Generated from the published series — describes direction, magnitude and range only, with no editorial judgement or forecasts.
OECD comparison
Incarceration rate per 100,000 population (World Prison Brief, 2023; UK rate calculated from ONS mid-2024 England & Wales population).
🇺🇸 United States
531 per 100,000
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
139 per 100,000
🇫🇷 France
109 per 100,000
🇩🇪 Germany
69 per 100,000
🇳🇴 Norway
43 per 100,000
About this indicator
- Source
- Ministry of Justice
- Update frequency
- Quarterly
- Last updated
- 3 August 2026
- Next update
- 3 November 2026
- Licence
- OGL v3
- Direction
- ↓ Falling
Statistics
- Latest
- 86.0k prisoners
- Period high
- 88.1k prisoners
- Period low
- 86.0k prisoners
- Period average
- 87.1k prisoners