Police officers per 1,000 people by country

Measures the number of police officers per 1,000 people

Countries reporting

100

Highest

9.9

Grenada

Lowest

1.05

Rwanda

Median

4.05

Years covered

1973–2015

Data points

1,617

What the numbers show

Police officers per 1,000 people is currently reported for 100 countries. The highest value is 9.9 in Grenada; the lowest is 1.05 in Rwanda.

The median across all reporting countries is 4.05, and the mean is 4.24.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 9.

Over the past decade 55 countries rose and 37 fell. The largest increase was in Mexico (up 262.5%), and the largest decrease in Egypt (down 86.8%).

Police officers per 1,000 people: full country ranking

#	Country	Latest	Year	10-year change	Trend
1	Grenada	9.9	2014	up 16.3%	rising
2	Mauritius	9.55	2011	up 11.6%	rising
3	Argentina	9.03	2015	up 205.3%	volatile
4	Maldives	8.97	2013	up 146.1%	volatile
5	Bahamas	8.43	2012	up 16.3%	rising
6	Uruguay	7.77	2015	up 27.9%	falling
7	Montenegro	7.42	2015	down 25.8%	falling
8	Lebanon	7.14	2013	up 23.7%	rising
9	North Macedonia	6.2	2014	up 6.8%	rising
11	Turkey	6.1	2012	up 4.9%	rising
12	Barbados	5.94	2015	down 2.9%	rising
13	Belize	5.91	2014	up 31.6%	rising
14	Croatia	5.88	2015	up 12.4%	falling
15	Trinidad and Tobago	5.86	2015	up 3.7%	rising
16	Serbia	5.79	2015	down 14.7%	rising
17	Russia	5.77	2015	down 19.3%	falling
18	Guyana	5.75	2015	up 8.3%	falling
19	Qatar	5.74	2004	—	falling
20	Greece	5.74	2015	up 20.7%	rising
21	Italy	5.57	2015	down 16.5%	rising
22	Portugal	5.53	2015	down 1.7%	rising
23	Panama	5.45	2013	down 6.0%	falling
24	Latvia	5.44	2015	down 23.7%	flat
25	Algeria	5.37	2015	up 26.6%	rising
26	Jamaica	5.23	2015	up 40.7%	rising
27	Cyprus	5.22	2015	down 12.4%	falling
28	Botswana	5.21	2011	—	rising
29	Slovakia	5.13	2015	up 7.4%	rising
30	Bosnia and Herzegovina	5.05	2015	up 59.1%	rising
31	Ukraine	4.85	2010	down 15.0%	falling
32	Czechia	4.77	2015	down 12.6%	falling
33	El Salvador	4.77	2015	up 25.6%	rising
34	Spain	4.68	2015	up 9.3%	rising
35	Bolivia	4.56	2011	up 45.7%	rising
36	Malaysia	4.52	2000	down 14.2%	falling
37	Cape Verde	4.51	2015	up 13.0%	flat
38	Peru	4.49	2015	up 26.7%	rising
39	Israel	4.49	2011	up 4.6%	falling
40	Kyrgyzstan	4.41	2000	down 2.1%	flat
41	Belgium	4.4	2015	down 6.6%	rising
42	Albania	4.36	2015	down 2.7%	falling
43	France	4.32	2015	up 6.0%	falling
44	Slovenia	4.3	2015	down 12.9%	rising
45	Sri Lanka	4.29	2004	up 4.1%	rising
46	Austria	4.27	2015	down 0.5%	falling
47	Thailand	4.23	2015	down 0.5%	rising
49	Bulgaria	4.14	2015	down 24.8%	falling
50	Colombia	4.12	2014	up 6.3%	rising
51	Moldova	4.11	2014	down 6.7%	falling
52	Lithuania	4.1	2015	down 6.4%	falling
53	Mexico	4.01	2015	up 262.5%	volatile
54	Netherlands	3.98	2015	up 26.0%	rising
55	Germany	3.98	2013	up 0.3%	flat
56	Estonia	3.98	2015	up 13.2%	falling
57	Chile	3.83	2015	up 32.5%	rising
58	Costa Rica	3.8	2015	up 5.1%	rising
60	Ecuador	3.74	2014	up 6.3%	flat
61	Eswatini	3.68	2004	up 12.4%	rising
62	Romania	3.68	2015	up 15.1%	rising
63	Australia	3.64	2015	up 13.0%	rising
64	Brazil	3.62	2013	up 25.6%	rising
65	Georgia	3.58	2014	up 30.2%	falling
66	Poland	3.56	2015	down 2.1%	flat
67	Kazakhstan	3.47	2015	down 36.8%	falling
68	Paraguay	3.45	2015	down 16.5%	falling
69	Fiji	3.39	1997	—	rising
70	United Kingdom	3.3	2015	down 12.5%	falling
71	South Africa	3.23	2002	down 30.3%	volatile
72	Switzerland	3.19	2015	down 0.7%	flat
73	Nepal	3.17	2006	up 7.1%	rising
74	Zimbabwe	3.13	2008	up 19.6%	flat
75	South Korea	3.06	2013	up 4.5%	rising
76	Sweden	3.04	2015	up 5.0%	falling
77	Japan	3.02	2014	up 1.9%	flat
78	New Zealand	2.98	2013	up 5.8%	rising
79	United States	2.98	2015	down 9.2%	rising
80	Iceland	2.96	2015	down 19.8%	falling
81	Guatemala	2.93	2014	up 10.0%	falling
82	Canada	2.91	2015	up 0.9%	falling
83	Denmark	2.86	2015	down 3.4%	falling
84	Lesotho	2.76	2009	up 41.3%	rising
85	Sierra Leone	2.76	2008	—	rising
86	Morocco	2.7	2012	up 10.9%	rising
87	Singapore	2.68	2015	down 48.4%	volatile
88	Norway	2.67	2014	down 3.8%	rising
89	Philippines	2.51	2014	up 4.6%	rising
90	Honduras	2.47	2015	—	rising
91	Myanmar	2.4	2015	down 0.0%	flat
92	Finland	2.4	2015	down 6.7%	falling
93	India	2.35	2013	up 7.6%	rising
94	Zambia	2.27	2000	down 4.4%	falling
95	Uganda	2.19	2014	up 45.8%	rising
96	Senegal	2.11	1980	—	rising
97	Hungary	1.88	2014	up 0.1%	falling
98	Tanzania	1.85	2015	up 25.3%	falling
99	Bangladesh	1.85	2006	—	flat
100	Kenya	1.85	2015	down 9.8%	falling
101	Egypt	1.36	1994	down 86.8%	volatile
102	Madagascar	1.34	2015	—	falling
103	Rwanda	1.05	2013	up 1.7%	flat

About this data

Indicator: Police officers per 1,000 people
Source: Jonathan Hanson and Rachel Sigman (2021) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 103 places, 1,617 data points, 1973–2015
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

Measures the number of police officers per 1,000 people