An annual report on government services released on Thursday has revealed almost 217 in every 100,000 Australians were behind bars in the past financial year.

The figure represents a 29.9 per cent increase since 2008-09.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were between 12 and 16 times more likely to be imprisoned than the non-indigenous population, depending on how the figure was calculated.

However, the majority of prisoners behind bars across Australia's 118 custodial facilities were non-indigenous.

On average, there were almost 42,000 people per day held in Australian prisons during 2017-18.

Women represented 8.3 per cent of the daily average prison population, while Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners represented 27.8 per cent.

Governments spent $4.4 billion on prisons in 2017-18, an increase of 7.8 per cent compared to the previous year.

Another $600 million was spent on community corrections.

The productivity commission also found governments spent $11.6 billion on policing efforts during the past year, a cost covered almost exclusively by the states and territories.

Australian, state and territory courts cost governments almost $1.9 billion.

Australian Associated Press