Malta ranks 30 out of 140 in Rule of Law Index

Malta’s overall rule of law score decreased by less than 1% in this year’s WJP Rule Of Law Index, ranking 30th out of 140 countries worldwide.

Regionally, Malta ranks 22nd out of 31 countries in the European Union, European Free Trade Association, and North America. The region’s top performer is Denmark (ranked 1st out of 140 globally), followed by Norway and Finland. The three countries with the lowest scores in the region are Croatia, Bulgaria, and Hungary (73rd globally). 

In the last year, 13 out of 31 countries declined in the European Union, European Free Trade Association, and North America. Of those 13 countries, four had also declined in the previous year.

Among high income countries, Malta ranks 29th out of 43.

For the fifth year in a row, the rule of law has declined globally, according to the 2022 World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index.

The World Justice Project’s original data in 140 countries and jurisdictions shows that adherence to the rule of law fell in 61% of countries this year – including Malta.

Globally, 4.4 billion people live in countries where rule of law has declined over the past year. “We are emerging from the pandemic, but the global rule of law recession continues,” said Elizabeth Andersen, executive director of the World Justice Project (WJP). “At its heart, rule of law is about fairness – that is, accountability, equal rights, and justice for all. And a less fair world is bound to be a more volatile one.” 

Index data shows that authoritarian trends that predate the pandemic – such as weaker checks on executive power and increased attacks on the media – continue to erode the rule of law globally.

However, declines are less widespread and extreme than last year, when COVID shutdowns dramatically disrupted justice systems, and governments exercised emergency powers that curtailed civic freedoms and bypassed transparency mechanisms.

Globally, the top-ranked country in the WJP Rule of Law Index 2022 is Denmark, followed by Norway, Finland, Sweden, and the Netherlands. The country with the lowest score is Venezuela, then Cambodia, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Haiti.

The WJP Rule of Law Index draws on in-depth surveys with more than 154,000 everyday people and 3,600 legal practitioners and experts to measure rule of law across eight factors: Constraints on Government Powers, Absence of Corruption, Open Government, Fundamental Rights, Order and Security, Regulatory Enforcement, Civil Justice, and Criminal Justice. Factor scores are averaged to assign an overall rule of law score to each country.