Asia · Western Asia

Saudi Arabia

High confidence

Verified 20 May 2026 · Data dated 1 Jan 2019

Fresh · 9d ago

Public statistics extremely limited. Figure is a WPB estimate.

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Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date.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

48,660

Year: 2019

Rate per 100,000

140

Per 100,000 residents

Occupancy

—

At or under capacity

Pre-trial / remand

48.3%

Share not yet sentenced

Female prisoners

1.9%

Foreign nationals

51.4%

Conditions risk — across 17 facilities

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

—

national average

17 unknown

How Saudi Arabia compares

vs Asia (14) & global averages

Rate per 100,000this: 140 · region: 165 · global: 214

Pre-trial sharethis: 48% · region: 32% · 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

1998: 23,088+103.6% over 15y2013: 47,000

What we know — and don't

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

What we don't know

Official annual figures not released; capacity and demographics unpublished.

—

Held

—

Data completeness

85%

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

National population: 34,810,0002019
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
Amnesty International — country pages — Amnesty International
See /data-sources for our methodology.