World Prisons
All countries

Europe · Eastern Europe

Poland

High confidence
Verified 20 May 2026 · Data dated 31 Mar 2026
Fresh · 9d ago

Among the highest incarceration rates in the EU.

Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date.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

70,786

Year: 2026

Rate per 100,000

195

Per 100,000 residents

Occupancy

83.1%

At or under capacity

Pre-trial / remand

11.2%

Share not yet sentenced

Female prisoners

5.4%

Foreign nationals

4.1%

Conditions risk — across 844 facilities

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

national average

How Poland compares

vs Europe (16) & global averages
Rate per 100,000this: 195 · region: 102 · global: 214
Occupancy ratethis: 83% · region: 97% · global: 125%
Pre-trial sharethis: 11% · region: 29% · 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: 70,544+1.0% over 22y2022: 71,228

Prisons in Poland

Browse all 844

844 facilities in our database — showing the first 24.

Data completeness

90%

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

National population
36,330,0002026
Source-verified
20 May 2026
Source links
2 cited

Sources

Direct citations for the figures on this page.