Eurostat: Kosovo with lowest number of prisoners in region

Women in Albania commit fewer crimes than in all of Europe. In Albanian prisons, the percentage of women is the lowest in Europe, according to a recent Eurostat report.

Fewer than 2 percent of the prisoners in Albania in 2022 were women, from about 5% the European Union average, according to Eurostat data.

In the region, Serbia has the highest percentage of female inmates, with about 6% of total.

Although the percentage of female prisoners is low, totally Albania ranks among the five countries that have the most people behind bars in relation to the population.

According to Eurostat, Albania had a total of 181 prisoners for 100,000 inhabitants for 2022, ranking fifth, after Turkey (403), Hungary (199), Poland (1901) and Czechia (181).

In the region, Kosovo has the lowest index, which has available data by 2020, with 78 prisoners for 100,000 inhabitants.

For northern Macedonia, the latest data is 2017 (146). In Serbia on 2022 the index was 158 and Montenegro 166. Bosnia and Herzegovina data is missing.

Compared to the previous year, when 175 prisoners for 100,000 people, the index for Albania has come on the rise. However, the highest level was recorded in 2016, with 209 people behind bars for 100,000 people.

Those who go behind bars are mainly big ones, while Albania has one of the lowest rates of youth imprisonment, with 2.8 per 100,000 inhabitants, out of 17 that is this indicator in Serbia, or 14 in Italy. /Monitor