With Hong Kong facing a potential constitutional crisis, the city’s solid reputation for rule of law is under question. Explore the territories current strengths, and compare with other regional, and world systems below
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The WJP has been collecting survey data from local rule of law experts year-to-year since 2012. Most countries, particularly at the top and middle of the rankings, preserve the rule of law stably, but every year there are some countries that make great progress, while others falter
*Hong Kong’s public survey was conducted in late 2015, prior to Bookseller disappearances, according to WJP
Asia, of all the regions assessed, had the toughest year in the rankings in 2016. South Korea, Malaysia, and the Philippines all fell back seven or more positions. At the top of the ranks in Asia, Hong Kong and Singapore remained stable, while lower down Vietnam and Myanmar made significant advancements. But in the end, the South Asian region ranked the lowest of all areas measured
The WJP assesses the rule of law uses eight factors, composed of related numerical sub-factors which 300 local legal experts within countries assign every year (additional input on the factors is also gathered from the public). Each factor is measured on a scale of 1.0 - 0.0 [Click here for more details on methodology]
Below are the scores for every country on all eight factors. Explore the state of the rule of law around the world by sorting countries by region and factors, and seeing how they measure up to related governing systems