Yes, the United States leads the world once again, and I’m sure when they go up to the podium to accept their award, the first one thanked will be the War on Drugs.

That’s right — the latest worldwide incarceration figures are out.

The United States has the highest prison population
rate in the world, 756 per 100,000 of the national
population [...]

Almost three fifths of countries (59%) have rates below
150 per 100,000. [...]

More than 9.8 million people are held in penal
institutions throughout the world, mostly as pre-trial
detainees (remand prisoners) or as sentenced prisoners.
Almost half of these are in the United States (2.29m),
Russia (0.89m) or China (1.57m sentenced prisoners). [...]

Prison populations are growing in many parts of the
world. Updated information on countries included in
previous editions of the World Prison Population List
shows that prison populations have risen in 71% of
these countries.

Check out the numbers…