Moldova is part of the group of countries with the highest imprisonment rate per 100,000 inhabitants – 242 (according to data of January 31, 2023). The highest figures of detained persons were registered in Turkey (408), Georgia (256) and Azerbaijan (244), followed by the Republic of Moldova, IPN reports, with reference to the Council of Europe’s Space report on prison populations.
Excluding countries with a population of less than 500,000, the lowest imprisonment rates were recorded in Finland (52), the Netherlands (52), Norway (55), Germany (69), Slovenia (68), Denmark (71), Switzerland (73), Armenia (79), Sweden (80) and Ireland (85).
Moldova tops the list of countries with a population of more than 500,000 inhabitants in which the incarceration rate rose the most: +52.1% compared to last year. Moldova is followed by North Macedonia (+25.5%), Cyprus (+24.8%), Turkey (+15%), Azerbaijan (+12.5%), Ireland (+11.7%), Montenegro (+11.3%), Armenia (+10.6%), Croatia (+10.4%), Hungary (+8.7%), Northern Ireland (UK) (+8.3%), Georgia (+8.2%), Bulgaria (+8.1%), Austria (+6.8%), Italy (+5.7%) and Sweden (5.1%).
Only prison administrations in Lithuania, Estonia and Greece reported a decrease in incarceration rates, of -8.9%, -8.8% and -5.2% respectively.
As for the average age of detainees, Moldova is one of the countries with relatively young detainees (35 years), along with Bulgaria (33), Sweden (34), Denmark (35), North Macedonia (35) and France (35). Only 1.5% of them are citizens of other states, while overall, in Europe, foreigners on January 31, 2023 represented 27% of the prison populations.
