Rule of Law - Governance estimate (approx. -2.5 to +2.5) in South Korea
South Korea: Rule of Law - Governance estimate (approx. -2.5 to +2.5) was 1.2 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 in 2025. ▲ Rising
Rule of Law - Governance estimate in South Korea, 1996–2025
Source: The Worldwide Governance Indicators: Revised Methodology for Measuring Governance Using Perception Data., World Bank Group (WBG). Measured in approx. -2.5 to +2.5.
Analysis
In 2025, rule of law - governance estimate in South Korea stood at 1.2 approx. -2.5 to +2.5. That is the highest value across all 27 years on record.
That represents a change of up 6.8% on the previous year and up 18.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, rule of law - governance estimate in South Korea peaked at 1.2 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 in 2025 and was at its lowest, 0.6198 approx. -2.5 to +2.5, in 1998.
South Korea ranks 29th of 208 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 27 years of available data.
Rule of Law - Governance estimate (approx. -2.5 to +2.5) in South Korea, year by year
| Year | approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 0.7178 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | — |
| 1998 | 0.6198 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | -13.7% |
| 2000 | 0.7495 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +20.9% |
| 2002 | 0.7851 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +4.7% |
| 2003 | 0.7785 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | -0.8% |
| 2004 | 0.8799 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +13.0% |
| 2005 | 0.9211 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +4.7% |
| 2006 | 0.8483 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | -7.9% |
| 2007 | 1 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +18.2% |
| 2008 | 0.901 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | -10.1% |
| 2009 | 0.9365 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +3.9% |
| 2010 | 0.9169 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | -2.1% |
| 2011 | 0.9275 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +1.2% |
| 2012 | 1.02 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +10.1% |
| 2013 | 0.9944 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | -2.7% |
| 2014 | 1.07 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +7.2% |
| 2015 | 1.01 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | -5.2% |
| 2016 | 1.04 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +2.8% |
| 2017 | 1.02 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | -1.4% |
| 2018 | 1.12 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +8.8% |
| 2019 | 1.11 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | -0.2% |
| 2020 | 1.16 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +4.3% |
| 2021 | 1.18 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +1.9% |
| 2022 | 1.19 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +0.5% |
| 2023 | 1.18 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | -1.0% |
| 2024 | 1.12 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | -4.9% |
| 2025 | 1.2 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +6.8% |
South Korea compared with similar countries
- South Korea's 1.2 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 is above the median for high income countries, which is 0.9506 approx. -2.5 to +2.5, 1.3× the median. (75 countries reporting)
- South Korea's 1.2 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 is above the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 0.6409 approx. -2.5 to +2.5, 1.9× the median. (36 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 0.6688 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | 0.6198 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | 0.7178 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | 2 |
| 2000s | 0.8669 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | 0.7495 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | 1 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | 9 |
| 2010s | 1.02 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | 0.9169 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | 1.12 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | 10 |
| 2020s | 1.17 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | 1.12 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | 1.2 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | 6 |
Countries ranked near South Korea
More reference data data for South Korea
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 0.9638 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 0.9281 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 3.55 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 0.2074 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Agricultural Soils 3.55 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 3.23 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure Management 4.37 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 5.17 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 19.85 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 1.13 (2050)
Frequently asked questions
- What is rule of law - governance estimate in South Korea?
- Rule of law - governance estimate in South Korea was 1.2 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 in 2025, according to The Worldwide Governance Indicators: Revised Methodology for Measuring Governance Using Perception Data., World Bank Group (WBG).
- What is the highest rule of law - governance estimate recorded in South Korea?
- The highest recorded value was 1.2 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 in 2025.
- What is the lowest rule of law - governance estimate recorded in South Korea?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.6198 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 in 1998.
- How does South Korea rank for rule of law - governance estimate?
- South Korea ranks 29th out of 208 countries with data for 2025.
- Is rule of law - governance estimate rising or falling in South Korea?
- Over the last ten years it is up 18.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this South Korea data come from?
- The figures come from The Worldwide Governance Indicators: Revised Methodology for Measuring Governance Using Perception Data., World Bank Group (WBG), published as part of Rule of Law - Governance estimate (approx. -2.5 to +2.5). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 27 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Rule of Law (RL) captures perceptions of the extent to which agents respect and follow the rules of society, including contract enforcement, property rights, the police, courts, and the likelihood of crime and violence. Governance estimate from the aggregation model, in units of a standard normal distribution, i.e. ranging from approximately -2.5 to 2.5. Larger values correspond to better governance. The (country-series-time) metadata include the (a) number of sources, and (b) standard error. The number of sources indicates the number of underlying data sources on which the governance estimate is based. The standard error indicates the precision of the governance estimate. Larger values indicate less precise estimates. A 90% confidence interval for the governance estimate is given by the estimate +/- 1.64 times the standard error.