Victoria’s imprisonment rate increased 9.5% over the last year, from 85.1 prisoners per 100,000 people in 2024 to 93.2 prisoners in 2025.
Note: The graph shows the rate of prisoners per 100,000 people of all ages. The rate includes both sentenced and unsentenced prisoners.
Imprisonment rate in Victoria
Hover over the line in the graph to display the year and imprisonment rate per 100,000 people.
Sources: A. Freiberg and S. Ross, Sentencing Reform and Penal Change: The Victorian Experience (The Federation Press, 1999); Australian Bureau of Statistics, National, State and Territory Population (2026); Australian Bureau of Statistics, Prisoners in Australia (2025).
Note: Prison population data for 1872, 1899 and 1900 is missing in the original source. The graph uses estimates that were divided by the Victorian population in each of those years: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Historical Population (2024).
