Estimating public expenditure on drug-law offenders in prison in Europe

The EMCDDA has estimated annual public expenditure on drug-law offenders in prisons in Europe. Between 2000 and 2010, this expenditure is estimated to have been within the range of 0.03 % to 0.05 % of GDP, on average, in 22 European countries. By applying these percentages to the whole EU for the year 2010, it can be estimated that the expenditure was within the range of EUR 3.7 billion to EUR 5.9 billion. Based on data provided by Eurostat and the Council of Europe, the proportion of sentenced prisoners who have a drug-law offence as their main offence was applied to total public expenditure on prisons.

This study estimates how much 22 European countries spent on drug-law offenders in prisons during the last decade. Based on this, an estimate for public expenditure on drug-law offenders at the European level was made.

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