Globally, the report estimates that around 3.6 million people were held in pre-trial detention in 2024, up from roughly 3.3 million a decade earlier, even though the overall proportion of unsentenced prisoners worldwide has remained relatively stable.
Africa has recorded the second-highest rate of pre-trial detention among world regions, according to a new United Nations report, which found that more than a third of the continent's prison population is being held without having been convicted or sentenced.
The report, Prison Matters 2026, published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), found that unsentenced detainees made up 34 per cent of Africa's prison population in 2024, behind only Oceania, where the figure stood at 39 per cent, and above the global average of 31 per cent.
Globally, the report estimates that around 3.6 million people were held in pre-trial detention in 2024, up from roughly 3.3 million a decade earlier, even though the overall proportion of unsentenced prisoners worldwide has remained relatively stable.
Within Africa, the report identifies stark subregional disparities. Sub-Saharan Africa recorded one of the highest proportions of unsentenced prisoners globally, while the report separately flags Southern Asia as the world's most acute case, where "almost two thirds of detainees (62 per cent) are held unsentenced", a figure the report says has worsened over the past decade.
