South Korea's Rule of Law Ranking Falls One Place to 20th Worldwide

Released by the U.S.-based World Justice Project (WJP)
Nordic countries rank near the top... Denmark 1st, Japan 15th

South Korea ranked 20th out of 143 countries in the rule of law, down one place from last year.

According to the 2026 Rule of Law Index, recently released by the World Justice Project (WJP), a U.S.-based nonprofit research organization, South Korea received an overall score of 0.74. The score was unchanged from last year, but its ranking fell one place, from 19th last year to 20th this year.

In particular, the judiciary's ability to check government power was found to be relatively weak. South Korea ranked 46th in this category, down four places from last year. It received a low ranking in the category assessing how effectively the judiciary can check and constrain government power, including that of the executive branch.

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Denmark ranked first among the 143 countries, with a score of 0.90. It was followed by Norway (0.89), Finland (0.87), and Sweden (0.86), with Nordic countries occupying the top spots. Japan scored 0.78 and ranked 15th, five places ahead of South Korea. South Korea ranked fifth among 15 countries in the East Asia and Pacific region and 20th among 51 high-income countries.

The lowest-ranked countries included Nicaragua (139th), Cambodia (140th), Haiti (141st), Afghanistan (142nd), and Venezuela (143rd).

The WJP assesses the rule of law across eight areas: civil justice, criminal justice, open government, regulatory enforcement, constraints on government powers, fundamental rights, order and security, and absence of corruption.

South Korea ranked 12th in civil justice, its highest ranking among the eight areas. By contrast, it ranked lowest in absence of corruption, at 35th. It scored highest in order and security, with 0.86, among the eight areas, but ranked only 27th.

The WJP said that the decline in the rule of law is a global phenomenon. In its report this year, the WJP said, "Judicial checks on government power weakened in 63% of the countries surveyed," and concluded that "the weakening of checks and balances on government power and the shrinking space for civil society activity are driving a global decline in the rule of law."

Published annually since 2009, the WJP Rule of Law Index is based on more than 215,000 household surveys and 3,400 surveys of legal practitioners and experts.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.