Are 72% of prison inmates in Switzerland foreign?
US president Donald Trump told the UN that nearly three quarters of the Swiss prison population are not Swiss. Is he right?
In a recent speech to the UN, US president Donald Trump set out some remarkable figures on the proportion of inmates in European prisons who were foreign nationals.
Citing statistics from the Council of Europe, he references Greece, Germany and Austria, as having rates around 50%.
鈥淚n Switzerland, beautiful Switzerland,鈥� he said 鈥�72% of the people in prisons are from outside of Switzerland.鈥�
These numbers are correct, but why are the percentages so high 鈥� particularly in Switzerland?
Tim Harford speaks to Professor Marcelo Aebi, a criminologist from the University of Lausanne, who wrote the prisons report for the Council of Europe.
If you鈥檝e seen a number in the news you think we should take a look at, let us know: moreorless@bbc.co.uk
Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Tom Colls
Sound mix: Rod Farquhar
Editor: Richard Vadon
Podcast
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More or Less: Behind the Stats
Tim Harford and the More or Less team try to make sense of the statistics around us.
