{
 "id": "prison-population-projection-england-wales",
 "title": "Prison population projections, England and Wales",
 "category": "crime-justice",
 "summary": "The Ministry of Justice's projections of the prison population of England and Wales at the end of each September for the next four years, central, low and high, beside the actual population at the end of the September before.",
 "unit": "count",
 "chart": "line",
 "volatile": false,
 "status": "",
 "notes": [
  "Projections, not counts: the central projection is the Ministry of Justice's main estimate of the population at the end of each September if its assumptions hold, and the low and high projections show other paths. Projected figures are rounded and their parts may not add up to the total. The actual population is the one on 30 September the edition began from.",
  "The Ministry of Justice publishes these as accredited official statistics."
 ],
 "provenance": {
  "publisher": "Ministry of Justice",
  "publisher_url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice",
  "source_page": "https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-population-projections-ns",
  "licence": "OGL-3.0",
  "licence_name": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.",
  "retrieved_at": "2026-11-08T13:16:46Z",
  "raw_files": [
   {
    "name": "page.json",
    "url": "https://www.gov.uk/api/content/government/statistics/prison-population-projections-2025-to-2030",
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    "name": "table.ods",
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    "name": "editions.json",
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 },
 "meta": {
  "latest_period": "2025-09",
  "edition": "2025 to 2030",
  "govuk_page": "/government/statistics/prison-population-projections-2025-to-2030",
  "govuk_page_title": "Prison Population Projections: 2025 to 2030",
  "attachment_title": "Prison Population Projections 2025 to 2030: statistical tables",
  "accreditation": "Accredited official statistics: GOV.UK gives the release as national statistics"
 },
 "headline": {
  "label": "Central projection, September 2029",
  "value": 99600.0,
  "period": "2029-09",
  "note": "low 97,400, high 102,100; the actual population at the end of September 2025 was 87,465"
 },
 "series": [
  {
   "name": "Actual",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "2025-09",
     "v": 87465.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2026-09",
     "v": null
    },
    {
     "x": "2027-09",
     "v": null
    },
    {
     "x": "2028-09",
     "v": null
    },
    {
     "x": "2029-09",
     "v": null
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "name": "Central",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "2025-09",
     "v": null
    },
    {
     "x": "2026-09",
     "v": 91400.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2027-09",
     "v": 94700.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2028-09",
     "v": 97400.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2029-09",
     "v": 99600.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "name": "Low",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "2025-09",
     "v": null
    },
    {
     "x": "2026-09",
     "v": 91100.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2027-09",
     "v": 93500.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2028-09",
     "v": 95700.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2029-09",
     "v": 97400.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "name": "High",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "2025-09",
     "v": null
    },
    {
     "x": "2026-09",
     "v": 92200.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2027-09",
     "v": 96200.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2028-09",
     "v": 99200.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2029-09",
     "v": 102100.0
    }
   ]
  }
 ]
}