How many people are imprisoned in Belgium?

Belgium's prison population is 13,483 people. This figure aggregates all forms of detention counted by the source: sentenced prisoners, pre-trial detainees, and administrative detentions.

What is the incarceration rate in Belgium?

Belgium's incarceration rate is approximately 113 people per 100,000 population.

How many prisons are there in Belgium?

World Prisons indexes 79 individual facilities in Belgium. Each entry links to a detail page with contact information, capacity, oversight reports, and known conditions.

All countries

Europe · Western Europe

Belgium

Q: Does Belgium have the death penalty?

Belgium's death-penalty status is: abolitionist. Seeded from Amnesty International 2024 categorisation + Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide.

High confidence

Verified 20 May 2026 · Data dated 1 Nov 2025

Aging · 5mo ago

Recurrent overcrowding; the country has been condemned by the ECtHR multiple times.

Compare Belgium World Prison Brief page

Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.

Prison population

13,483

Year: 2025

Rate per 100,000

113

Per 100,000 residents

Occupancy

121.5%

Above design capacity

Pre-trial / remand

32.6%

Share not yet sentenced

Female prisoners

4.4%

Foreign nationals

41.4%

Figures from official sources · verified 20 May 2026 · methodology

Conditions risk — across 79 facilities

Average of our computed Conditions Risk Score across the country's facilities. Methodology · Browse highest-risk

—

national average

79 unknown

abolitionist on capital punishment since 1996. Last known execution: 1950.ICCPR-OP2 (death-penalty abolition protocol): signatory

Seeded from Amnesty International 2024 categorisation + Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide.

Source: Amnesty International + Cornell Death Penalty Worldwide.

111 documented human-rights cases →

How Belgium compares

vs Europe (16) & global averages

Rate per 100,000this: 113 · region: 108 · global: 214

Occupancy ratethis: 122% · region: 95% · global: 125%

Pre-trial sharethis: 33% · region: 27% · global: 32%

The vertical ticks mark the global (grey) and regional (amber) means. Bars are clipped at the high end for readability.

Prison population over time

Annual figures, latest survey year

2000: 8,688+45.2% over 25y2025: 12,613

Source: World Prison Brief / unodc / eurostat / Council of Europe SPACE I

Health & mortality

Custodial mortality + prison-health indicators aggregated from national statistics offices, UCLA custodial mortality dataset, and Marshall Project COVID tracking.

Indicators (latest by source)

Tb Incidence
9count
2020 · source: who-hiped
Mortality Rate
154.13per_100k_pa
2020 · source: who-hiped

Held

—

Detentiehuis Olen

Belgium

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Dinant prison

Belgium · Dinant

Type

—

Capacity

Held

—

Etablissement de defense sociale de Paifve

Belgium

Type

—

Capacity

208

Held

—

Belgium · Mechelen

Type

—

Capacity

Held

—

Gevangenis van Merksplas

Belgium · Merksplas

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Hechteniskamp Lokeren

Belgium

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

See all 79 prisons in Belgium →

Data completeness

100%

Score based on how many fields are populated. We surface this so you know where the gaps are.

National population: 11,970,0002025
Source-verified: 20 May 2026
Source links: 2 cited

Sources

Direct citations for the figures on this page.

Primary reference
World Prison Brief (ICPS, Birkbeck) — Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research
Council of Europe â SPACE statistics — Council of Europe
See /data-sources for our methodology.

ISO 3166-1 alpha-3: BEL

Cite this page

Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.

APA

World Prisons. (2026). Belgium — prison statistics. Retrieved October 15, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/countries/belgium

Chicago

"Belgium — prison statistics." World Prisons. Accessed October 15, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/countries/belgium.

BibTeX

@misc{worldprisons-belgium,
  author = {{World Prisons}},
  title = {Belgium — prison statistics},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://worldprisons.com/countries/belgium},
  urldate = {2026-10-15}
}