The recently published Rule of Law Index for 2025, prepared by the World Justice Project, covers 143 countries. This ranking is based on surveys of citizens and expert opinions assessing eight key criteria, including limitations on government power and the effectiveness of the judicial system in civil and criminal matters. Each country is assigned a score from 0 to 1, where 1 corresponds to full adherence to the principles of the rule of law, and 0 indicates their complete absence.
According to the WJP, in 2025 the index level decreased in 68% of countries, while last year this figure was 57%. Mongolia, although it dropped from 66th to 67th place in the overall ranking, managed to maintain its score at 0.53 compared to 2024, ranking 8th among countries in East Asia and the Pacific.
Among its closest neighbors, China received a score of 0.48 and ranked 92nd, Russia scored 0.41 and ranked 119th, while Kazakhstan scored 0.54 and ranked 66th.
Among the countries with the highest scores on the Rule of Law Index are Denmark (0.90), Norway (0.89), and Finland (0.87).
Also in the top ten are: Sweden (4th place, 0.85), New Zealand (5th place, 0.83), Germany (6th place, 0.83), Luxembourg (7th place, 0.83), Ireland (8th place, 0.82), the Netherlands (9th place, 0.82), and Estonia (10th place, 0.82). The United States ranks 27th with an index of 0.68.
At the bottom of the ranking are Cambodia (141st place, 0.31), Afghanistan (142nd place, 0.31), and Venezuela (143rd place, 0.26).
The Rule of Law Index (Rule of Law Index® 2025), developed by the World Justice Project (WJP), is the latest report in an annual series assessing people's perceptions and experiences regarding the rule of law worldwide. This index serves as a primary source of original and independent data on the rule of law, and WJP hopes that this tool will help identify strengths and weaknesses, influence policy decisions, guide program development, and provide information for research aimed at strengthening the rule of law.
Tatar S. Maydar
source: MiddleAsianNews
