Jails in England and Wales were found by an official study not to be overcrowded, but to have three times as many prisoners sentenced to life than elsewhere in Europe.
In England and Wales, prison density "per 100 places" was 95.5, meaning it was just scraping overcrowding levels.
Acute overcrowding was found in 21 European prison administrations in 2013, particularly in Italy where the figure was 148 inmates per 100 places, Hungary (145), Cyprus (138) Belgium (134), Portugal and France (both 117).
In England and Wales 10.7% were serving life, compared with a Europe-wide average of 3.1%. In Northern Ireland the figure was much higher still at 14.1% and in Scotland it was 15.4%.
A higher proportion of rapists (7.6% of the jail population) were held in England and Wales than anywhere else in the EU.
Foreigners jailed in England and Wales were significantly lower in number than in many other EU countries. Some 11,000 were in Britain, but Spain and Italy had both jailed around 22,000 each and there were 19,000 in Germany.
Overall, EU countries have locked up 1.67 million people and they spent €25.4 billion on jails in 2013. The daily spend in the UK was €117, which is higher than the European average of €97.
The most common offences of those imprisoned were drug offences (18%), theft (16%), robbery (13.5%) and homicide (11.6%).
The official study for the Council of Europe was compiled by the University of Lausanne.
