Hong Kong ranks highly in justice survey, Philippines plummets

WASHINGTON – The World Justice Project (WJP) today released its 2017-2018 WJP Rule of Law Index which measures rule of law adherence in 113 countries worldwide, ranking Hong Kong at Number 16. The survey is based on  more than 110,000 household and 3,000 expert surveys.

Featuring primary data, the WJP Rule of Law Index measures countries’ rule of law performance across eight factors: Constraints on Government Powers, Absence of Corruption, Open Government, Fundamental Rights, Order and Security, Regulatory Enforcement, Civil Justice, and Criminal Justice.

Hong Kong’s overall rule of law score placed it at 5 out of 15 countries in the East Asia and the Pacific region, 16 out of 35 among high income countries, and 16 out of 113 countries and jurisdictions worldwide.

The top three overall performers were Denmark (1), Norway (2), and Finland (3); the bottom three were Afghanistan (111), Cambodia (112), and Venezuela (113).

Globally, a majority of countries worldwide saw their scores decline since the publication of the last WJP Index (in October 2016) in the areas of human rights, checks on government powers, and civil and criminal justice.

Regionally, East Asia and Pacific was second-ranked in rule of law, behind Western Europe and North America. New Zealand and Australia continued to be the top performers in the region, ranking 7th and 10th respectively of 113 countries worldwide.

However, more than two-thirds of countries in this region experienced a decrease in overall rule of law score.

 The Philippines continued to drop significantly in the global ranks, falling 18 places to 88th out of 113 countries. www.worldjusticeproject.org (ATI).