Population Items
A Generational Shift: Race and the Declining Lifetime Risk of Imprisonment
This study makes three primary contributions to a fuller understanding of the contemporary landscape of incarceration in the United States. First, we assess the scope of decarceration. Second, our life table analysis demonstrates marked declines in the lifetime risks of incarceration. Third, decarceration has shifted the institutional experiences of young adulthood. Our results suggest that prison has played a smaller role in the institutional landscape for the most recent generation compared with the generation exposed to the peak of mass incarceration.
Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2023
This report offers some much-needed clarity by piecing together the data about this country’s disparate systems of confinement. It provides a detailed look at where and why people are locked up in the U.S., and dispels some modern myths to focus attention on the real drivers of mass incarceration and overlooked issues that call for reform.
Countries with the largest number of prisoners per 100,000 of the national population, as of January 2023
The United States is home to the second largest number of prisoners worldwide, only beaten by China. Roughly 1.68 million people were incarcerated in the U.S. in 2023. In China, the estimated prison population totaled to 1.69 million people that year. Other nations had far fewer prisoners. The largest share of the U.S. prisoners in federal correctional facilities were of African-American origin. As of 2020, there were 345,500 black, non-Hispanic prisoners, compared to 327,300 white, non-hispanic inmates. The U.S.
World Prison Brief
The World Prison Brief is an online database providing free access to information on prison systems around the world. It is a unique resource, which supports evidence-based development of prison policy and practice globally.
UNFPA Population Data Portal
The Population Data Portal is UNFPA’s ultimate data source and tracker for population and development data. It combines the newest population data on topics like sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, family planning, maternal health, or gender based violence gathered from a multiple sources.
World Prison Brief
The World Prison Brief is an online database providing free access to information on prison systems around the world. It is a unique resource, which supports evidence-based development of prison policy and practice globally.
Racial Disparities Persist in Many U.S. Jails
Despite narrowed gap in incarceration rates, Black people remain overrepresented in jail populations, admissions—and stay longer on average.
World health statistics 2022
The World health statistics report is the World Health Organization’s (WHO) annual compilation of the most recent available data on health and health-related indicators for its 194 Member States. The 2022 edition features the latest data for 50+ indicators from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and WHO Triple billion targets. A total of 35 indicators present at least 2020 data (from comparable estimates and primary data) and 16 indicators include data between 2017 and 2019.
How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth?
Calculating the answer to the question “How many people have ever lived on Earth?” is complicated. To begin with, when we initially wrote this article back in 1995, “modern” Homo sapiens (that is, people who were roughly like we are now) were thought to have first walked the Earth around 50,000 B.C.E. Discoveries now suggest modern Homo sapiens existed much earlier, around 200,000 B.C.E.
Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2022
This report offers some much-needed clarity by piecing together the data about this country’s disparate systems of confinement. It provides a detailed look at where and why people are locked up in the U.S., and dispels some modern myths to focus attention on the real drivers of mass incarceration and overlooked issues that call for reform.
Federal Prisoner Statistics Collected under the First Step Act, 2021
This is the third report as required under the First Step Act of 2018 (FSA; P.L. 115-391). It includes data on federal prisoners provided to BJS by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) for calendar year 2020. Under the FSA, BJS is required to report on selected characteristics of persons in prison, including marital, veteran, citizenship, and English-speaking status; education levels; medical conditions; and participation in treatment programs.
U.S. Population Growth Rate 1950-2022
Chart and table of U.S. population from 1950 to 2022. United Nations projections are also included through the year 2100.
UNFPA Population Data Portal
The Population Data Portal is UNFPA’s ultimate data source and tracker for population and development data. It combines the newest population data on topics like sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, family planning, maternal health, or gender based violence gathered from a multiple sources.
Trends in U.S. Corrections
The Sentencing Project's key fact sheet provides a compilation of major developments in the criminal justice system over the past several decades.
States of Incarceration: The Global Context 2021
Not only does the U.S. have the highest incarceration rate in the world; every single U.S. state incarcerates more people per capita than virtually any independent democracy on earth. To be sure, states like New York and Massachusetts appear progressive in their incarceration rates compared to states like Louisiana, but compared to the rest of the world, every U.S. state relies too heavily on prisons and jails to respond to crime.
U.S. Births Increased in 2021. But Don't Call It a Comeback.
Preliminary data from the National Center for Health Statistics show that the number of births in the United States rose in 2021 to just under 3.66 million, after falling to 3.61 million in 2020. While it might be tempting to call this increase—representing nearly 46,000 births—a rebound, we’ll need to see another year of growth before we can call it a comeback.
World Health Statistics 2021
The World health statistics report is the World Health Organization’s (WHO) annual compilation of the most recent available data on health and health-related indicators for its 194 Member States. The 2021 edition features the latest data for 50+ health-related indicators from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and WHO Triple Billion targets.
FUTURE OF WORK Insights for 2021 and Beyond
The aftermath of the 2008-09 financial crisis spotlighted unequal access to jobs and opportunities in the US. After the Occupy Wall Street protests, many industries and agencies re-examined policy areas for their impacts on inequality (including even the Federal Reserve1). Many policies today, including universal basic income,2 free education and health care, reduced labor inflows, and controlled trade and investments, are partly in response to unequal access to opportunities and uncertainties about the future of work.
International Migration Outlook 2021
The 2021 edition of International Migration Outlook analyses recent developments in migration movements and the labour market inclusion of immigrants in OECD countries. It also monitors recent policy changes in migration governance and integration in OECD countries. This edition includes two special chapters, one providing an in-depth analysis of the fiscal impact of migration in OECD countries since the mid 2000s and another on the causes and consequences of the residential segregation of immigrants. The Outlook also includes country notes and a detailed statistical annex.
World Prison Brief
Customizable tool to allow the viewer to observe world prison data from several categories.
People in Prison in Winter 2021-22
Conditions inside prisons—including high populations and inadequate vaccination and hygiene protocols—meant that, in winter 2021-22, both correctional officers and incarcerated people experienced high levels of COVID-19. 1 Research has clearly demonstrated that incarceration also increases the level of COVID-19 infection in communities outside of prisons and jails.2 All levels of government should take action to further reduce the number of people held in jails and prisons.
Global Prison Trends 2021
Global Prison Trends 2021 exposes the impact of the global pandemic on prison populations and staff, showing that in the face of the COVID-19 crisis millions of people in prison have suffered as a result of preventive measures, at a huge cost to their mental health and human rights.
U.S. and World Population Clock (2019)
About the Population Clock and Population Estimates
U.S. Population
The U.S. population clock is based on a series of short-term projections for the resident population of the United States. This includes people whose usual residence is in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. These projections do not include members of the Armed Forces overseas, their dependents, or other U.S. citizens residing outside the United States.
World Population Data (2018)
The population of 26 countries, nearly all in Africa, will at least double. Niger in West Africa will see its population nearly triple.
A total of 38 countries will have smaller populations in 2050 than in 2018. China will register the largest numerical population decrease―about 50 million―followed by Japan at 25 million and Russia at 9.4 million. Romania will see the largest percentage decline in population (23 percent).
The population of the United States will reach 390 million, up from 328 million in 2018.