Ministry of Justice · Offender management statistics quarterly: annual prison population tables, 2019 edition (June 2002 to June 2019)
Prison population, annual average, 1900 to 2018
2018 Final
83,296people
Prison population, annual average, 1900 to 2018 was 83,296 people in 2018, down 2.7% (2,335) from 85,632 in 2017.
▼ 2.7% · −2,335 against 2017 (year on year)
Ministry of Justice count
2018
published 26 July 2019
Table A1.2
row “2018”
column “Total”
cell value 83296.41666666667
The series is near its highest recorded level. Rule: within 5% of the highest value in the 119 periods published here.
1900 to 2018
Published valueProvisional or revisedLatestDashed line: change in coverage or methodShaded bands: governments (see labels)Hover or use arrow keys to read a value
The average of the twelve month-end prison populations in England and Wales in a calendar year, from Table A1.2 of the Ministry of Justice's 2019 annual prison population tables.
What this doesn’t measure
The population on any particular day (the modern series is a Monday snapshot), people in immigration removal centres or police cells, or prisons in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Important caveat
The annual average prison population is "the average of the 12 month end prison populations" (Ministry of Justice), for England and Wales, from the 2019 edition of the annual prison population tables. For July 2009 to February 2010 "month end data was not available ... so data for the last Friday of the month has been used instead (except for December 2009, where the 18 December was used)". Figures before 2002 are historical series compiled by the Ministry of Justice and its predecessors. An annual average is a different snapshot basis from the weekly Monday population bulletin that the modern series uses.
When the way this was measured changed
A series can move because the thing being measured changed, or because the way of measuring it changed. Each change below is marked on the chart, and says what the figures meant on either side of it.
July 2009 · methodology change
Before
Month-end snapshot of the prison population.
After
Last Friday of the month from July 2009 to February 2010, then a new prison IT system from 2010.
Ministry of Justice: "month end data was not available for the period from July 2009 to February 2010, so data for the last Friday of the month has been used instead (except for December 2009, where the 18 December was used)". From 2010 the data come from a new prison IT system.
Revision history
No period of this series has been revised since it was first ingested here. Revisions are recorded automatically when a later release publishes a different figure for the same period.
Change during each government, from the level inherited to the last complete period before it left office. Describes the period; does not attribute cause.