On January 31, 2025, Portuguese prisons had 524 prisoners aged 65 or over, a percentage of 4.2% of the total number of prisoners, above the European average of 3.6% for this age group.
Portugal, alongside Italy, has the oldest prison population in Europe, with an average age of 42 years, above 37.5 years in Europe, according to data revealed this Tuesday by the Council of Europe.
In the annual report analyzing the prison population for 2024 – but with some data that already covers the first month of 2025 -, the Council of Europe reveals that on January 31, 2025, Portuguese prisons had 524 prisoners aged 65 or over, a percentage of 4.2% of the total number of prisoners, above the European average of 3.6% for this age group.
A The vast majority of the 12,340 adult inmates were between 26 and 49 years old (8,448 inmates) and 2,584 were between 50 and 64 years old. Between the ages of 18 and 25 there were 779 inmates and 20 minors serving sentences in the prison system.
More than 90% of prisoners were men, but Portugal had 904 women prisoners at that time, representing 7.3% of the total prison population, a percentage above the average of 5.8% in Europe.
Also according to the report, Portuguese prisons had 18 children up to five years old living with their mothers in the establishments in 2024.
Drug trafficking, theft and robbery are the most common crimes among those sentenced to prison sentences in Portugal, but there were also 877 convicted of murder, 196 of rape and 226 of other sexual crimes.
Of the 12,360 prisoners, 10,209 were national citizens and 2,151 foreigners, of which 255 were citizens of Member States of the European Union, 1,299 were serving sentences and 852 were simply detained.
Of the 65 deaths that occurred in the prison system in 2024, nine were due to suicide, of which four were women. Of these nine deaths, eight were inmates who had not yet been formally sentenced.
There were also another 56 deaths, which include deaths due to disease, according to data in the report.
