About the WJP Rule of Law Index

What is the WJP Rule of Law Index?

The WJP Rule of Law Index® is the world’s leading source for original, independent data on the rule of law. Now covering 142 countries and jurisdictions (see our current list here), the Index relies on more than 149,000 household surveys and 3,400 legal practitioner and expert surveys to measure how the rule of law is experienced and perceived worldwide. The Index provides current and reliable information to policy makers, civil society organizations, academics, citizens, and legal professionals, among others, and is intended to encourage policy reforms, guide program development, and inform research to strengthen the rule of law.

How does the WJP define the rule of law?

The World Justice Project defines the rule of law as a durable system of laws, institutions, norms, and community commitment that delivers accountability, just laws, open government, and accessible justice. These general principles are further developed into nine factors and 47 sub-factors in the WJP Rule of Law Index.

The nine factors are: Constraints on Government Powers (Factor 1), Absence of Corruption (Factor 2), Open Government (Factor 3), Fundamental Rights (Factor 4), Order and Security (Factor 5), Regulatory Enforcement (Factor 6), Civil Justice (Factor 7), Criminal Justice (Factor 8), and Informal Justice (Factor 9). Please note that while informal justice plays an important role in rule of law systems worldwide, it is not included in our scores and rankings because it cannot be systematically compared across countries and jurisdictions.

Scores and rankings for the WJP Rule of Law Index include eight factors and 44 sub-factors.

What data sources are used to calculate the WJP Rule of Law Index scores and rankings?

The WJP Rule of Law Index scores and rankings primarily utilizes two sources of original, independent data: the General Population Poll (GPP) and the Qualified Respondents’ Questionnaires (QRQs).

The GPP is a household survey administered to the general public in each country and jurisdiction included in the Index. It is administered every few years by leading local polling companies to a representative sample of 1,000 respondents in each country or jurisdiction. The poll has historically been conducted in the three largest cities in each country or jurisdiction, but the WJP is transitioning to nationally representative polls. The GPP questionnaire includes 127 perception-based questions and 213 experience-based questions, along with socio-demographic information on all respondents.

The QRQs consist of closed-ended questions completed by in-country practitioners and academics with expertise in four subjects: civil and commercial law; constitutional law, civil liberties, and criminal law; labor law; and public health. The QRQ is administered by the WJP research team on an annual basis in every country or jurisdiction measured in our Index. These questionnaires gather timely input on a range of topics from practitioners who frequently interact with state institutions. Such topics include information on the efficacy of courts, the strength of regulatory enforcement, and the reliability of accountability mechanisms.

In addition, the WJP incorporates a few third-party sources in the Index scores. These third-party sources cover topics that cannot be adequately measured through our surveys, such as the number of deaths due to terrorist incidents or civil conflict in a country or jurisdiction. These third-party sources account for approximately 3% of the variables included in the Index (13 out of over 500 variables).

Between the GPP, QRQs, and the third-party source data, the WJP collects and analyzes data for more than 500 question-level variables that are used to build the WJP Rule of Law Index.

How many experts are surveyed in each country or jurisdiction on average?

Over 3,400 experts participated in the 2023 edition of the WJP Rule of Law Index, with an average of 24 QRQ respondents per country or jurisdiction. The response rate by country or jurisdiction varies considerably due to factors including overall population size and the total number of potential participants that have been identified.

How does the Index account for different definitions of rule of law and different types of governance? How does it account for cross-cultural differences in rule of law?

The Index and our surveys have been carefully designed to be applied in countries with vastly different social, cultural, economic, and political systems. No society has ever attained—let alone sustained —a perfect realization of the rule of law. Every country faces the perpetual challenge of building and renewing the structures, institutions, and norms that can support and sustain a rule of law culture.

In addition, the Index accounts for different definitions of rule of law and different types of governance by weighting all factors equally. No single factor is given more weight or importance than another.

Does the WJP validate its Index scores?

The WJP cross-checks Index scores against independent quantitative and qualitative sources such as Freedom House’s Freedom in the World report, the Global Competitiveness Index, Transparency International, Economic Freedom of the World report, World Economic Forum, the United States Human Rights Report, Freedom House’s Nation in Transit, Amnesty International country reports, and many others. The goal of this exercise is to check for consistencies and inconsistencies within WJP’s data and to provide a qualitative layer of analysis useful in interpreting scores and enhancing in- house files. In addition, the WJP collaborates with the Econometrics and Applied Statistics Unit of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre to perform sensitivity analysis to assess the statistical reliability of the results.

How do you pick countries and jurisdictions to include in the Index? Why are certain countries and jurisdictions not included?

While the World Justice Project would like to include as many countries and jurisdictions as possible in the WJP Rule of Law Index, we have not been able to expand the Index to include every country or jurisdiction primarily due to resource constraints. As for why specific countries are included and not others, as we have grown our flagship from six countries in 2008 to 142 in the most recent edition (see our current list here), we have chosen jurisdictions to include based on the following considerations:

• Population: As we first began building the Index, we attempted to prioritize the most populous countries and jurisdictions to ensure that it covers as much of the world’s population as possible. We estimate that our Index currently covers 90% of the world’s population.

• Geographic and economic diversity: As we have grown our coverage, we have tried to ensure a balanced representation of different regions and different levels of economic development.

• Feasibility and cost of data collection: We have not been able to include some countries and jurisdictions in our Index due to government restrictions on public opinion polling, high polling costs, safety concerns on the part of our local polling partners, and/or other locally-specific, complicating factors for data collection that would require extra staff time and cost. In addition, those areas that have very few practicing lawyers can pose a challenge to collecting the expert data needed to build our Index scores.

• Funding availability/requirements: Some of the grants that support the WJP Rule of Law Index specifically fund the inclusion of particular geographies and countries/jurisdictions. This source of funding has been the sole determiner of Index expansion in recent years.

Beyond these considerations, the WJP does not have particular policies or priorities that lead us to include or not include a given jurisdiction in our Index.

Who uses the Index and how is it used?

The Index is a diagnostic tool developed to provide objective, independent data on key elements of the rule of law. The Index provides current and reliable information to policy makers, civil society organizations, international organizations, academics, businesses, rating agencies, citizens, and legal professionals among others. It is intended to encourage policy reforms, guide program development, inform risk assessments, and stimulate research to strengthen the rule of law.

While the Index is not a tool for prioritizing or designing specific policies, it provides standardized measures across countries and jurisdictions, which allows cross-country comparisons and macro-level analysis. You can learn more about the use of the Index on our website here.

Where can I learn more about the methodology of the WJP Rule of Law Index?

The methodology of the Index, including the frequency with which GPP and QRQ data are collected, is publicly available on the WJP website and described on pages 183 to 189 of the 2023 WJP Rule of Law Index report (available in PDF here). The variables used to construct Index scores are publicly available on the methodology page of the Index data portal here.