Rule of Law - Governance score in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Rule of Law - Governance score was 78.82 0-100 in 2024. ▼ Falling

Latest (2024)
78.82 0-100
Change on year
down 0.0%
World rank
23rd
of 206 countries
All-time high
86.53 0-100
in 2000
All-time low
78.82 0-100
in 2024
Years of data
26
1996–2024

Rule of Law - Governance score in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 1996–2024

0204060801996201020241996: 85.4 0-1001998: 86.4 0-1002000: 86.5 0-1002002: 85.3 0-1002003: 84.9 0-1002004: 83.9 0-1002005: 83.8 0-1002006: 84.8 0-1002007: 84.2 0-1002008: 82.3 0-1002009: 82.4 0-1002010: 85.1 0-1002011: 81.8 0-1002012: 82.8 0-1002013: 82.9 0-1002014: 84.4 0-1002015: 85.5 0-1002016: 84.7 0-1002017: 84.6 0-1002018: 82.5 0-1002019: 81.7 0-1002020: 80.3 0-1002021: 79.4 0-1002022: 79.3 0-1002023: 78.8 0-1002024: 78.8 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 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland stood at 78.82 0-100. That is the lowest value across all 26 years on record.

That represents a change of down 6.6% over ten years.

Over the whole period, rule of law - governance score in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland peaked at 86.53 0-100 in 2000 and was at its lowest, 78.82 0-100, in 2024.

That places United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 23rd out of 206 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the top quarter.

The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 26 years of available data.

Rule of Law - Governance score in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, year by year

Annual values for Rule of Law - Governance score (0-100) in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 1996 to 2024.
Year 0-100 Change
1996 85.44 0-100
1998 86.37 0-100 +1.1%
2000 86.53 0-100 +0.2%
2002 85.35 0-100 -1.4%
2003 84.95 0-100 -0.5%
2004 83.89 0-100 -1.2%
2005 83.77 0-100 -0.1%
2006 84.82 0-100 +1.2%
2007 84.21 0-100 -0.7%
2008 82.31 0-100 -2.3%
2009 82.45 0-100 +0.2%
2010 85.08 0-100 +3.2%
2011 81.8 0-100 -3.9%
2012 82.76 0-100 +1.2%
2013 82.93 0-100 +0.2%
2014 84.39 0-100 +1.8%
2015 85.55 0-100 +1.4%
2016 84.73 0-100 -1.0%
2017 84.65 0-100 -0.1%
2018 82.53 0-100 -2.5%
2019 81.72 0-100 -1.0%
2020 80.29 0-100 -1.7%
2021 79.45 0-100 -1.1%
2022 79.33 0-100 -0.1%
2023 78.83 0-100 -0.6%
2024 78.82 0-100 -0.0%

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1990s 85.91 0-100 85.44 0-100 86.37 0-100 2
2000s 84.25 0-100 82.31 0-100 86.53 0-100 9
2010s 83.61 0-100 81.72 0-100 85.55 0-100 10
2020s 79.34 0-100 78.82 0-100 80.29 0-100 5

Countries ranked near United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

  1. 20 Lithuania 80.62 0-100 compare
  2. 21 Monaco 80.12 0-100 compare
  3. 22 Belgium 79.04 0-100 compare
  4. 24 Tuvalu 77.99 0-100 compare
  5. 25 Aruba 77.96 0-100 compare
  6. 26 Czechia 77.41 0-100 compare

See the full ranking of 206 places →

More reference data data for United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

All data for United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland →

Frequently asked questions

What is rule of law - governance score in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?
Rule of law - governance score in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was 78.82 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 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?
The highest recorded value was 86.53 0-100 in 2000.
What is the lowest rule of law - governance score recorded in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?
The lowest recorded value was 78.82 0-100 in 2024.
How does United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland rank for rule of law - governance score?
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ranks 23rd out of 206 countries with data for 2024.
Is rule of law - governance score rising or falling in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?
Over the last ten years it is down 6.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 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 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Statizoid, drawing on The Worldwide Governance Indicators: Revised Methodology for Measuring Governance Using Perception Data., World Bank Group (WBG). Retrieved 23 August 2026, from https://reference.statizoid.com/stat/rule-of-law-governance-score-0-100/united-kingdom/

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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).