Niger: crime and justice
4 answers, 3 from Niger's own official bodies, with a link to each figure.
How many prisoners are there in Niger?
Niger's prisons held 12,570 people in 2023, up from 8,916 in 2020, according to Ministry of Justice figures in the INS Statistical Yearbook 2020-2024. Of these, 7,096 were held on remand awaiting trial and 5,474 had been convicted; 312 were women.
With 10,455 places, the occupancy rate of remand prisons was 120.2% in 2023, up from 85.3% in 2020. The country had 44 prison establishments in 2024, including 38 remand prisons and one high-security central prison. Figures for 2024 prison numbers were not yet available in the yearbook.
How many crimes are recorded in Niger?
Prosecutors' offices in Niger registered 7,497 new cases in the 2022-2023 judicial year, up from 5,914 in 2021-2022, according to Ministry of Justice figures in the INS Statistical Yearbook 2020-2024.
Theft was the largest category, with 2,194 cases including 161 of livestock theft, followed by drug possession and use (1,241 cases). There were 16 murders, 18 assassinations and 162 rapes recorded. These are cases reaching prosecutors, not all crimes reported to the police or gendarmerie, and the judicial year runs from autumn to autumn. Figures for 2023-2024 were not yet published.
How many courts are there in Niger?
Niger had 59 courts in 2024, according to Ministry of Justice figures in the INS Statistical Yearbook 2020-2024. They include the Court of State, 3 courts of appeal, 10 high courts (tribunaux de grande instance), 36 courts of first instance, 5 municipal district courts, a commercial court, a military court and two specialised judicial units for terrorism and for economic and financial crime.
In the table, the Court of State appears from 2023 in place of the Constitutional Court, Council of State and Court of Auditors listed until 2022. The yearbook also reports cases entered and judged by the courts of appeal of Niamey, Zinder and Tahoua.
International comparisons
The figures below use one definition for every country, so they can differ from national figures.
How many people have died in armed conflict in Niger?
The latest figure from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, for 2024, is 952. No year since 2007 has been higher. It is 8th highest of 20 in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the median is 164. Worldwide: 15th of 41.
Official bodies in Niger
- Ministry of Justice and Human Rights (statistics published in the INS yearbook)Compiles judicial and prison statistics, including prison population, cases at prosecutors' offices and court activity, published in the INS Statistical Yearbook.
More about Niger
- Economy
- Jobs and pay
- Cost of living
- Public finances
- Health and care
- Housing
- Immigration
- Education
- Environment
Read on 14 October 2026. Definitions · Report an error