World Prisons
All countries

Europe · Northern Europe

Sweden

High confidence
Verified 20 May 2026 · Data dated 31 Jan 2024
Fresh · 9d ago

Population rising rapidly since 2020 reversing two decades of decline. Government commissioned major expansion programme.

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Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date.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

9,748

Year: 2024

Rate per 100,000

92

Per 100,000 residents

Occupancy

104.9%

Above design capacity

Pre-trial / remand

28.3%

Share not yet sentenced

Female prisoners

6.8%

Foreign nationals

16.7%

Conditions risk — across 90 facilities

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

—
national average
90 unknown

How Sweden compares

vs Europe (16) & global averages
Rate per 100,000this: 92 · region: 109 · global: 214
Occupancy ratethis: 105% · region: 96% · global: 125%
Pre-trial sharethis: 28% · region: 28% · 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: 5,326+42.8% over 20y2020: 7,607

Reform in Sweden

All reform →

Laws, programmes, and pilots changing how Sweden incarcerates — plus relevant research.

  • Closing all women's prisons (proposed)2014–2019

    decarceration · stalled

    In 2014 the Swedish Prison and Probation Service openly considered phasing out women's prisons entirely on the grounds that the population was too small and too low-risk to justify a separate carceral infrastructure.

Prisons in Sweden

Browse all 90 →

90 facilities in our database — showing the first 24.

Anstalten Aby

Sweden · Uppsala

Type

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Capacity

—

Held

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Anstalten Asptuna

Sweden

Type

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Capacity

—

Held

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Anstalten Brinkeberg

Sweden · Vänersborg

Type

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Capacity

—

Held

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Anstalten Faringso

Sweden

Type

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Capacity

—

Held

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Anstalten Fosie

Sweden

Type

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Capacity

—

Held

—

Anstalten Gruvberget

Sweden

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

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Anstalten Karlskoga

Sweden · Karlskoga

Type

—

Capacity

76

Held

—

Anstalten Kristianstad

Sweden

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Anstalten Ljustadalen

Sweden · Sundsvall

Type

—

Capacity

30

Held

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Anstalten Mariefred

Sweden

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

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Anstalten Norrtälje

Sweden · Norrtälje

Type

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Capacity

—

Held

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Anstalten Ringsjon

Sweden

Type

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Capacity

—

Held

—

Anstalten Rodjan

Sweden · Mariestad

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Anstalten Skenas

Sweden · Vikbolandet

Type

—

Capacity

82

Held

—

Anstalten Tygelsjo

Sweden · Tygelsjö

Type

—

Capacity

65

Held

—

Anstalten Vastervik Norra

Sweden · Västervik

Type

—

Capacity

255

Held

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Anstalten Viskan

Sweden · Torpshammar

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

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Anstalten Ystad

Sweden · Ystad

Type

—

Capacity

65

Held

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Barbyanstalten

Sweden · Uppsala

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Bergaanstalten

Sweden

Type

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Capacity

—

Held

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Haktet Huddinge

Sweden · Huddinge

Type

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Capacity

—

Held

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Haktet Karlstad

Sweden

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

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Haktet Ostersund

Sweden · Östersund

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

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Hall Prison

Sweden · Södertälje

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

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See all 90 prisons in Sweden →

Data completeness

100%

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

National population
10,550,0002024
Source-verified
20 May 2026
Source links
2 cited

Sources

Direct citations for the figures on this page.