How many people are imprisoned in Philippines?

Philippines's prison population is 171,247 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 Philippines?

Philippines's incarceration rate is approximately 149 people per 100,000 population.

How many prisons are there in Philippines?

World Prisons indexes 262 individual facilities in Philippines. Each entry links to a detail page with contact information, capacity, oversight reports, and known conditions.

All countries

Asia · South-Eastern Asia

Philippines

Q: Does Philippines have the death penalty?

Philippines'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 Apr 2024

Aging · 3mo ago

Among the world's most overcrowded systems. BJMP-operated city jails routinely at 4–6× capacity.

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Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date.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

171,247

Year: 2023

Rate per 100,000

149

Per 100,000 residents

Occupancy

362%

Severely overcrowded

Pre-trial / remand

65.2%

Share not yet sentenced

Female prisoners

9.8%

Foreign nationals

0.2%

Figures from official sources · verified 20 May 2026 · methodology

Conditions risk — across 262 facilities

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

32/100

national average

1 elevated 7 moderate 254 unknown

abolitionist on capital punishment since 2006. Last known execution: 2000.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.

1 documented human-rights cases →

How Philippines compares

vs Asia (16) & global averages

Rate per 100,000this: 149 · region: 165 · global: 214

Occupancy ratethis: 362% · region: 130% · global: 125%

Pre-trial sharethis: 65% · region: 31% · 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

Type

City jail

Capacity

—

Held

—

See all 262 prisons in Philippines →

Data completeness

100%

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

National population: 115,290,0002023
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
Human Rights Watch â World Report — Human Rights Watch
See /data-sources for our methodology.

ISO 3166-1 alpha-3: PHL

Recent reports

New Bilibid Prison15 Mar 2024
Sustained overcrowding at ~4Ã design capacity. Dormitories operate under tacit inmate-organised governance.
Bureau of Corrections internal review · source

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). Philippines — prison statistics. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/countries/philippines

Chicago

"Philippines — prison statistics." World Prisons. Accessed August 30, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/countries/philippines.

BibTeX

@misc{worldprisons-philippines,
  author = {{World Prisons}},
  title = {Philippines — prison statistics},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://worldprisons.com/countries/philippines},
  urldate = {2026-08-30}
}