The costs of housing prisoners vary dramatically across the EU: While Luxembourg spends €377 per inmate per day, Bulgaria gets by with just €13. Outside the EU, San Marino tops the list with an astonishing €523.88 per day – for only 145 inmates.
Norway (€373) and Liechtenstein (€305.10) demonstrate that humane prison conditions come at a price. Meanwhile, countries like Azerbaijan (€8.24) or Turkey (€12.45) raise questions about their standards. Even within the EU, the gap is striking: Romania (€42) and Croatia (€54) fall far below the European median of €106 per day.
Alright, I’ll do it. Portugal Cyka Blyat!
Couple thoughts…
1. Why show the daily rate? Not sure prison is similar to a hotel. More like a mortgage/rent/annual expense. I would multiply the numbers by 30 or 365 to get something more familiar to your audience
2. What is significant about Luxembourg vs Bulgaria? Any qualitative info to add? Or you are just showing min/max delta?
3. How do these numbers correlate to any measures of conditions in the prisons? Does Sweden offer hot baths and fresh meatballs daily to its inmates while Latvia is well known for abuses? You said Norway is “humane” but you have no data to prove it
I make these comments to challenge you to do even better. I hope you find them constructive. It is very interesting to see the wide disparity in spending. I wonder how my country and its states (usa) compare in terms of min/max…
10 of 25 don’t change positions
6 move up or down one position.
6 more move up or down two positions.
Poland +8
Austria -4
Spain +3
I wonder how it correlates to actual comfort (since real estate amd food have different prices in different countries) and what those figures would look like if those were normalized for inmate socioeconomic status. I’d assume a jailed millionnaire would have higher standards than the average joe and this will contribute to the average in Luxembourg.
Why is Germany highlighted?
well the cost of living is vastly different. Could be more interesting to see that divided by minimum wage or cost of living
So, in Greece inmate pays the bill?
In case you were wondering, USA would be on the same level as Slovenia more or less…
Ever been in a Bulgarian prison?
Well maybe because they get a fkin PS5 with a plus subscription probably
Eh. Luxembourg likely only has one prison. It’s common for Corrections where there is only one facility to have a high cost. They don’t benefit from economy of scale
Bulgaria – the next prison colony?
I guess the Vikings of Norway take no prisoners?
Next graph, show the recidivism rates of all these countries in order. See if it makes a difference how much you spend and what you get in return. I’ll wait.
Luxemburg should send their inmates to Bulgaria, and pay the country, both win
It would also be interesting to see if there’s a relationship between expenditure and recidivism.
If a more expensive prison meant fewer repeat offenders, then the actual expenditure overall might be lower.
If, on the other hand, there’s zero correlation between cost and recidivism, it says something else.
Why tf are they spending so much on prisoners. Go team bulgaria
![The expensive differences in incarceration costs across the EU [OC]](https://www.europesays.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/pil58d8j0ooe1-1920x1024.png)
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**Article:** [https://www.datapulse.de/en/incarceration-costs-in-the-eu/](https://www.datapulse.de/en/incarceration-costs-in-the-eu/)
**Main data source: ​​https://wp.unil.ch/space/files/2025/02/250219_Rapport-SPACE-I-2023.pdf**Â
**Data:** [Google Sheets](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1N3YwQLGkzlqIHCVJ2Suem6T3Fdoos9J0CywmDCgY6XM/edit?usp=sharing)
**Tool:** Adobe Illustrator
The costs of housing prisoners vary dramatically across the EU: While Luxembourg spends €377 per inmate per day, Bulgaria gets by with just €13. Outside the EU, San Marino tops the list with an astonishing €523.88 per day – for only 145 inmates.
Norway (€373) and Liechtenstein (€305.10) demonstrate that humane prison conditions come at a price. Meanwhile, countries like Azerbaijan (€8.24) or Turkey (€12.45) raise questions about their standards. Even within the EU, the gap is striking: Romania (€42) and Croatia (€54) fall far below the European median of €106 per day.
Alright, I’ll do it. Portugal Cyka Blyat!
Couple thoughts…
1. Why show the daily rate? Not sure prison is similar to a hotel. More like a mortgage/rent/annual expense. I would multiply the numbers by 30 or 365 to get something more familiar to your audience
2. What is significant about Luxembourg vs Bulgaria? Any qualitative info to add? Or you are just showing min/max delta?
3. How do these numbers correlate to any measures of conditions in the prisons? Does Sweden offer hot baths and fresh meatballs daily to its inmates while Latvia is well known for abuses? You said Norway is “humane” but you have no data to prove it
I make these comments to challenge you to do even better. I hope you find them constructive. It is very interesting to see the wide disparity in spending. I wonder how my country and its states (usa) compare in terms of min/max…
[https://imgur.com/DVxrAtG](https://imgur.com/DVxrAtG)
That is the same data but adjusted using the CoL data from:
[https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/rankings_by_country.jsp?title=2023®ion=150](https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/rankings_by_country.jsp?title=2023®ion=150)
10 of 25 don’t change positions
6 move up or down one position.
6 more move up or down two positions.
Poland +8
Austria -4
Spain +3
I wonder how it correlates to actual comfort (since real estate amd food have different prices in different countries) and what those figures would look like if those were normalized for inmate socioeconomic status. I’d assume a jailed millionnaire would have higher standards than the average joe and this will contribute to the average in Luxembourg.
Why is Germany highlighted?
well the cost of living is vastly different. Could be more interesting to see that divided by minimum wage or cost of living
So, in Greece inmate pays the bill?
In case you were wondering, USA would be on the same level as Slovenia more or less…
Ever been in a Bulgarian prison?
Well maybe because they get a fkin PS5 with a plus subscription probably
Eh. Luxembourg likely only has one prison. It’s common for Corrections where there is only one facility to have a high cost. They don’t benefit from economy of scale
Bulgaria – the next prison colony?
I guess the Vikings of Norway take no prisoners?
Next graph, show the recidivism rates of all these countries in order. See if it makes a difference how much you spend and what you get in return. I’ll wait.
Luxemburg should send their inmates to Bulgaria, and pay the country, both win
It would also be interesting to see if there’s a relationship between expenditure and recidivism.
If a more expensive prison meant fewer repeat offenders, then the actual expenditure overall might be lower.
If, on the other hand, there’s zero correlation between cost and recidivism, it says something else.
Why tf are they spending so much on prisoners. Go team bulgaria
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