Rule of Law - Governance score in New Zealand

New Zealand: Rule of Law - Governance score was 85.66 0-100 in 2024. ▬ Flat

Latest (2024)
85.66 0-100
Change on year
down 0.8%
World rank
10th
of 206 countries
All-time high
89.44 0-100
in 2011
All-time low
85.66 0-100
in 2024
Years of data
26
1996–2024

Rule of Law - Governance score in New Zealand, 1996–2024

0204060801996201020241996: 88.5 0-1001998: 88.4 0-1002000: 88.6 0-1002002: 88.5 0-1002003: 88.5 0-1002004: 87.6 0-1002005: 87.8 0-1002006: 88.1 0-1002007: 88.1 0-1002008: 88.5 0-1002009: 88.5 0-1002010: 87.9 0-1002011: 89.4 0-1002012: 88.5 0-1002013: 87.5 0-1002014: 88.2 0-1002015: 88.9 0-1002016: 89.1 0-1002017: 88.3 0-1002018: 88 0-1002019: 87.7 0-1002020: 87.4 0-1002021: 86.7 0-1002022: 86.6 0-1002023: 86.4 0-1002024: 85.7 0-100

Source: The Worldwide Governance Indicators: Revised Methodology for Measuring Governance Using Perception Data., World Bank Group (WBG). Measured in 0-100.

Analysis

In 2024, rule of law - governance score in New Zealand stood at 85.66 0-100. That is the lowest value across all 26 years on record.

The figure is down 0.8% on the previous year and down 2.8% over ten years.

Over the whole period, rule of law - governance score in New Zealand peaked at 89.44 0-100 in 2011 and was at its lowest, 85.66 0-100, in 2024.

New Zealand ranks 10th of 206 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.

Rule of Law - Governance score in New Zealand, year by year

Annual values for Rule of Law - Governance score (0-100) in New Zealand, 1996 to 2024.
Year 0-100 Change
1996 88.48 0-100
1998 88.35 0-100 -0.1%
2000 88.64 0-100 +0.3%
2002 88.52 0-100 -0.1%
2003 88.47 0-100 -0.0%
2004 87.59 0-100 -1.0%
2005 87.84 0-100 +0.3%
2006 88.1 0-100 +0.3%
2007 88.07 0-100 -0.0%
2008 88.45 0-100 +0.4%
2009 88.47 0-100 +0.0%
2010 87.86 0-100 -0.7%
2011 89.44 0-100 +1.8%
2012 88.5 0-100 -1.0%
2013 87.51 0-100 -1.1%
2014 88.17 0-100 +0.8%
2015 88.91 0-100 +0.8%
2016 89.07 0-100 +0.2%
2017 88.27 0-100 -0.9%
2018 87.97 0-100 -0.3%
2019 87.67 0-100 -0.3%
2020 87.37 0-100 -0.3%
2021 86.75 0-100 -0.7%
2022 86.6 0-100 -0.2%
2023 86.35 0-100 -0.3%
2024 85.66 0-100 -0.8%

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1990s 88.42 0-100 88.35 0-100 88.48 0-100 2
2000s 88.24 0-100 87.59 0-100 88.64 0-100 9
2010s 88.34 0-100 87.51 0-100 89.44 0-100 10
2020s 86.55 0-100 85.66 0-100 87.37 0-100 5

Countries ranked near New Zealand

  1. 7 Sweden 86.68 0-100 compare
  2. 8 Netherlands 86.34 0-100 compare
  3. 9 Austria 85.84 0-100 compare
  4. 11 Iceland 84.98 0-100 compare
  5. 12 Germany 84.95 0-100 compare
  6. 13 Ireland 84.35 0-100 compare

See the full ranking of 206 places →

More reference data data for New Zealand

All data for New Zealand →

Frequently asked questions

What is rule of law - governance score in New Zealand?
Rule of law - governance score in New Zealand was 85.66 0-100 in 2024, 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 score recorded in New Zealand?
The highest recorded value was 89.44 0-100 in 2011.
What is the lowest rule of law - governance score recorded in New Zealand?
The lowest recorded value was 85.66 0-100 in 2024.
How does New Zealand rank for rule of law - governance score?
New Zealand ranks 10th out of 206 countries with data for 2024.
Is rule of law - governance score rising or falling in New Zealand?
Over the last ten years it is down 2.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is flat.
Where does this New Zealand 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 score (0-100). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

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Rule of Law - Governance score in New Zealand. Statizoid, drawing on The Worldwide Governance Indicators: Revised Methodology for Measuring Governance Using Perception Data., World Bank Group (WBG). Retrieved 28 August 2026, from https://reference.statizoid.com/stat/rule-of-law-governance-score-0-100/new-zealand/

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About this data

Indicator
Rule of Law - Governance score (0-100)
Unit
0-100
Source
The Worldwide Governance Indicators: Revised Methodology for Measuring Governance Using Perception Data., World Bank Group (WBG)
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
206 places, 5,270 data points, 1996–2024
Last refreshed

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 score is a linear transformation of the governance estimate using hypothetical worst-case and base-case countries. It is an absolute score ranging from 0-100. Larger values correspond to better governance. The (country-series-time) metadata include the (a) number of sources, and (b) confidence intervals (lower and upper bound). The number of sources indicates the number of underlying data sources on which the governance score (respectively the underlying governance estimate) is based. The confidence intervals include the lower and upper bound of the 90% confidence interval for the governance score. Confidence intervals are a statistical range of values that likely contain the true value (of what is being estimated).