Guyana moves 3 places up rule of law ranking

While a majority of countries worldwide saw their scores decline since the publication of the last World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index (in October 2016) in the areas of human rights, checks on Government powers, and civil and criminal justice, Guyana climbed three positions in overall rule of law to 73rd out of 113 countries in the 2017-2018 edition.
Guyana’s performance was measured on the basis of: constraints on Government powers, absence of corruption, open Government, fundamental rights, order and security, regulatory enforcement, civil justice and criminal justice. While its global ranking was 73, regionally it is 20th of 30.
Guyana was not the only country that was surveyed in the Latin America and Caribbean. Other countries include: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, and Suriname.
Regionally, Latin America and the Caribbean’s top performer in the Index is Uruguay at 22nd out of 113 countries, followed by Costa Rica and Chile. Neighbouring Suriname showed the biggest fall in rankings, moving down 10 places to 69th out of the 113 indexed countries worldwide.
Three countries in the Region experienced negative trends in Constraints on Government Powers, while three countries showed positive trends in Open Government. Finally, Venezuela once again had the lowest overall rule of law score among all 113 indexed countries.
The top three overall performers in the 2017-2018 WJP Rule of Law Index were Denmark (1); Norway (2); and Finland (3); the bottom three were Afghanistan (111); Cambodia (112); and Venezuela (113).
The WJP Rule of Law Index is the world’s leading source for original data on the rule of law. The Index relies on more than 110,000 household and 3000 expert surveys to measure how the rule of law is experienced and perceived in practical, everyday situations by the general public worldwide.