Uzbekistan ranked 78th in the World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index 2023, which measured rule of law adherence in 142 countries worldwide. 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.
On 50 points out of 100, Uzbekistan neighbours Sri Lanka (77th) and India (79th).
Among the CIS countries, the highest ranked is Kazakhstan – 65, Kyrgyz Republic – 103, Belarus - 104, and the lowest was Russia - 113.
The top five overall performers in the 2020 WJP Rule of Law Index were Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Germany; the bottom five were Venezuela, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The rule of law has once again eroded in a majority of countries this year, according to the WJP. More than 6 billion people live in a country where the rule of law weakened between 2022 and 2023.
Since authoritarian trends pushed the world into a rule of law recession in 2016, the global downturn has affected 78% of countries, the latest Index shows.
The rule of law factor to decline most between 2016 and 2023 is Fundamental Rights—down in 77% of countries.
This and other authoritarian trends continued in 2023, but they are slowing, with fewer countries declining in 2022 and 2023 than in earlier years. On the other hand, declines in the functioning of justice systems are now spreading, with more countries struggling to provide people with timely, affordable, and accessible justice. The Index factor measuring Civil Justice was the factor that declined in the most countries this year.
