The most recent World Justice Project (WJP) report presented the Rule of Law® Index® 2021, which measures the performance of 139 countries and jurisdictions with respect to the rule of law, including the Latin American region.
The WJP presented in Washington, United States, indicates that The Dominican Republic rose three points in the index this year, on a global scale and ranked 94 out of 139 countries where position one is the best.
At the regional level, the country occupies position 23 out of 32 countries. The WJC measures the factors of limits to government power, absence of corruption, open government, fundamental rights, regulatory compliance, civil justice and criminal justice.
The report is the first in this annual series since the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, and shows that negative multi-year trends deteriorated further during this period.
In the Latin American and Caribbean region, the country with the highest score is Uruguay (25th out of 139 countries), followed by Costa Rica and Chile. The three countries with the lowest scores in the region are Nicaragua, Haiti, and Venezuela (139th out of 139 countries).
This year, two new countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region were added to the Index, which are Haiti and Paraguay. In the past year, 22 out of 30 countries lowered their score in the region. Of these 22 countries, 13 had already done so in the last version of the index.
Factors
The WJP Rule of Law Index is an annual report based on surveys of more than 138,000 households and 4,200 specialists worldwide.
Within the eight factors and specifically in Limits to governmental power, the global position was 91 out of 139 countries and the DR was 94; and in regional terms in position 24 of 32; while in terms of the position reached by income level (in upper-middle-income countries), the country was ranked 24th out of 40.
In the absence of corruption index, the Dominican Republic was ranked 100 out of 139 countries, in global terms; it is 21st out of 32 nations in the Latin American region and 32nd out of 40 for upper-middle income.
In open government, the Dominican Republic’s position at the global level is 59th out of 139 countries analyzed by the WJP, 14th out of 32, and 15th out of 40 middle and high-income countries.
Regarding fundamental rights, the country was ranked 67th out of 139 countries, 14th out of 32 nations in the region and 18th out of 40 middle- and high-income countries.
In terms of order and security, the position reached is 117 on a global scale, which shows the situation of difficulty in that index with respect to the world situation and 27 of 32 regional scale, and 38 of 40 nations in terms of middle income and high.
In civil justice, the indicators place the DR in position 111 out of 139 nations, in 24 of the 32 countries of the region and in 34 of 40 middle- and high-income countries. In criminal justice, the position reached was 96 of 139 countries in the world, 17 of 32 regional and 28 of 40 middle and high income.
Overall, the Dominican Republic’s Rule of Law score increased less than 1% in this year’s Index. Ranked 94th out of 139 countries and jurisdictions in the world, RD moved up three places in the overall ranking. And in position 23 of 32 countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region and in 30 of 40, among upper-middle-income countries.
world
The 2021 Index shows that more countries lowered their scores than increased it in the Rule of Law Index, for the fourth year in a row.
In a year dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic, 74.2% of the countries included experienced declines in their score.
139 Countries in the Index
The WJP includes eight factors in its measurement of the Rule of Law: Limits to Government Power, Absence of Corruption, Open Government, Fundamental Rights, Order and Security, Regulatory Compliance, Civil Justice, and Criminal Justice.
of the Rule of Law, while only 25.8% improved. The 74.2% of the countries that experienced declines this year represent 84.7% of the world’s population, or roughly 6.5 billion people. The declines were widespread and occurred in all corners of the world. For the second year in a row, across all regions, most countries regressed or remained unchanged in their overall performance in the rule of law. “With negative trends in so many countries, this edition of the WJP Rule of Law Index should be a wake-up call for all of us,” said WJP Co-Founder and CEO Bill Neukom.
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