Relocate IndexBest Countries for Rule of Law 2026
Rule of law captures two things: institutional quality (do courts work, is corruption controlled?) and street-level reality (do people feel safe walking around?). Some countries have great institutions but rough streets; others have modest governance but feel very safe day-to-day. It does not measure everyday etiquette — queuing, littering, noise norms — because no reliable cross-country data for those behaviours exists.
Scored using data from World Bank WGI Rule of Law, World Bank WGI Control of Corruption, Numbeo Crime Index. 60 countries ranked.
Data last updated:
Top 15 countries for rule of law
Denmark
Northern Europe · Overall: 69.4
Finland
Northern Europe · Overall: 64.9
Switzerland
Western Europe · Overall: 69.7
Singapore
Southeast Asia · Overall: 71.6
Norway
Northern Europe · Overall: 64.3
Netherlands
Western Europe · Overall: 69.9
Estonia
Northern Europe · Overall: 65.2
Iceland
Northern Europe · Overall: 70.5
Luxembourg
Western Europe · Overall: 69.6
Japan
East Asia · Overall: 64.3
Taiwan
East Asia · Overall: 78.3
Austria
Western Europe · Overall: 68.5
Germany
Western Europe · Overall: 64.3
United Arab Emirates
Middle East · Overall: 58.5
United States
North America · Overall: 71.4
Lowest-scoring countries
How rule of law is calculated
How well institutions work and how safe the streets actually feel — combining governance quality with street-level crime perception.
civic_culture = governance × 0.60 + street_safety × 0.40. governance = wgi_rule_of_law × 0.55 + wgi_corruption_control × 0.45. street_safety = 100 − numbeo_crime_index.
Limitation: Governance data is institutional (WGI). Street safety is crowdsourced perception (Numbeo). Neither captures behavioural civicness (queuing, littering, social norms) directly.
Frequently asked questions
Which country has the best rule of law?
Denmark ranks 1st for rule of law with a score of 85 out of 100, based on data from World Bank WGI Rule of Law, World Bank WGI Control of Corruption, Numbeo Crime Index.
How is the rule of law score calculated?
Rule of law captures two things: institutional quality (do courts work, is corruption controlled?) and street-level reality (do people feel safe walking around?). Some countries have great institutions but rough streets; others have modest governance but feel very safe day-to-day. It does not measure everyday etiquette — queuing, littering, noise norms — because no reliable cross-country data for those behaviours exists. Formula: civic_culture = governance × 0.60 + street_safety × 0.40. governance = wgi_rule_of_law × 0.55 + wgi_corruption_control × 0.45. street_safety = 100 − numbeo_crime_index.
How many countries are ranked for rule of law?
60 countries have rule of law scores in the Relocate Index.