Malta slips one place in global rule of law rankings

Malta has seen a slight decline in its rule of law performance, falling by 0.2% and dropping one place to 31st out of 143 countries in the World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index 2025.

The country’s overall score of 0.67 places it below the regional average of 0.73, though still above the global average of 0.55.

This continues a gradual downward trend that began after 2021, when Malta’s score stood at 0.68. It remained stable through 2023 before dipping slightly to 0.67 in 2024 and 2025.

The WJP Index, which measures how people experience and perceive the rule of law, warns of a “deepening global recession” in governance standards.

68% of countries recorded declines this year — the eighth consecutive global drop — driven by weakened checks on government, shrinking civic space, and threats to judicial independence.

Below regional average, but ahead of eight EU peers

In WJP terms, “regional” refers to the EU, EFTA, and North America grouping, which includes 31 high-income democracies such as Germany, Denmark, Norway, and the United States.

Within this region, Malta’s score of 0.67 places it 23rd out of 31, below the regional mean of 0.73 but still well above the global average of 0.55. The top performers — Denmark (0.90, rank 1), Norway (0.89, rank 2), Finland (0.87, rank 3), and Germany (0.83, rank 6) — continue to dominate the rankings, maintaining strong judicial independence and accountability systems.

Within the EU itself, Malta holds the 19th position out of the 27 EU countries, just behind Portugal and Cyprus but ahead of 8 other member states namely Poland (0.66), Italy (0.66) Slovak Republic (0.64, Romania (0.61) Croatia (0.61, Greece (0.60), Bulgaria (0.55) and Hungary (0.50).

The report awarded lower rule-of-law scores to two-thirds of EU member states compared with 2024, thanks to “reduced open government, deteriorations in the justice system, and weaker regulatory enforcement.”

Hungary led by far-right strongman Viktor Orbán has seen the worst decline, receiving a score of just 0.50 out of a possible 1.0 — the lowest rule-of-law score in the 27-member European Union.

Malta’s strengths and weaknesses

Malta ranks 31st globally, 23rd in its region, and 31st among 51 high-income countries. It performs strongly in “Order and Security” (0.91, rank 12 globally) and “Fundamental Rights” (0.74, rank 26) — both above the global averages (0.72 and 0.56) and close to regional norms (0.86 and 0.76).

However, it underperforms in “Constraints on Government Powers” (0.61, rank 43), “Regulatory Enforcement” (0.58, rank 45), and “Civil Justice” (0.60, rank 48) — all below the regional average of around 0.70–0.73.

Moderate results were recorded for “Absence of Corruption” (0.64, rank 40), “Open Government” (0.63, rank 32), and “Criminal Justice” (0.63, rank 27)

How the index is compiled

The WJP Rule of Law Index 2025 draws on extensive data from over 215,000 people and 4,100 legal experts and academics across 143 countries.

It measures the rule of law across eight key factors. These include constraints on Government Powers, absence of Corruption, open government, fundamental Rights, order and security, regulatory enforcement, civil justice and criminal justice.

The index combines results from Qualified Respondents’ Questionnaires (QRQs) — completed by legal professionals in fields such as civil, criminal, labour, and public health law — and a General Population Poll (GPP) reflecting citizens’ lived experiences.

This approach offers a broad picture of how justice systems perform both in law and in practice.

The WJP credited a number of Maltese legal experts for their input into this year’s index. These include David Lorenzo A. Griffiths of A. Griffiths + Associates, Karl Tanti of AE Legal, Mark Said, Romina Bartolo of Luris Malta Advocates, Therese Comodini Cachia from the University of Malta, and Tyrone Grech of Naudi Mizzi & Associates.

Their insights combined with the GPP helped assess Malta’s performance across justice and governance indicators, providing local context to the global study.

The report underlines the importance of bolstering judicial independence, ensuring government accountability, and strengthening transparency.