How many people are imprisoned in China?

China's prison population is 1,690,000 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 China?

China's incarceration rate is approximately 119 people per 100,000 population.

How many prisons are there in China?

World Prisons indexes 1,005 individual facilities in China. Each entry links to a detail page with contact information, capacity, oversight reports, and known conditions.

All countries

Asia · Eastern Asia

China

Q: Does China have the death penalty?

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

High confidence

Verified 20 May 2026 · Data dated 31 Dec 2018

Aging · 5mo ago

Official Ministry of Justice figure. Excludes pre-trial detainees and administrative detention systems.

Compare China 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Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date.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

1,690,000

Year: 2018

Rate per 100,000

119

Per 100,000 residents

Occupancy

99%

At or under capacity

Pre-trial / remand

7.5%

Share not yet sentenced

Female prisoners

8.6%

Foreign nationals

0.4%

Figures from official sources · verified 20 May 2026 · methodology

Conditions risk — across 1005 facilities

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

3/100

national average

2 low 1003 unknown

retentionist on capital punishment. Last known execution: 2025.Methods: lethal injection, firing squadICCPR-OP2 (death-penalty abolition protocol): not a signatory

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

Executions by year (Amnesty International)

2019
1,000–8,000+
2020
1,000–8,000+
2021
1,000–8,000+
2022
1,000–8,000+
2023
1,000–8,000+
2024
1,000–8,000+

Source: Amnesty International + Cornell Death Penalty Worldwide.

1 documented human-rights cases →

How China compares

vs Asia (16) & global averages

Rate per 100,000this: 119 · region: 167 · global: 214

Occupancy ratethis: 99% · region: 152% · global: 125%

Pre-trial sharethis: 8% · region: 35% · 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: 1,427,407+19.9% over 17y2017: 1,712,000

Source: World Prison Brief

What we know — and don't

Transparency about the boundaries of this data. Click sources where linked.

What we don't know

True figure widely believed to be substantially higher once administrative detention (RTS, Re-education Through Labour successor regimes) is included.

Capacity

—

Held

—

Bai Se Qiang Zhi Ge Chi Jie Du Suo

China

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

See all 1,005 prisons in China →

Data completeness

100%

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

National population: 1,418,000,0002018
Source-verified: 20 May 2026
Source links: 3 cited

Sources

Direct citations for the figures on this page.

Primary reference
World Prison Brief (ICPS, Birkbeck) — Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research
Human Rights Watch â World Report — Human Rights Watch
Dui Hua Foundation — Dui Hua Foundation
See /data-sources for our methodology.

ISO 3166-1 alpha-3: CHN

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). China — prison statistics. Retrieved October 15, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/countries/china

Chicago

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

BibTeX

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