Rule of Law Index in East Timor
East Timor: Rule of Law Index was 0.717 in 2025. ▲ Rising
Rule of Law Index in East Timor, 1976–2025
Source: V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
East Timor recorded 0.717 for rule of law index in 2025.
The figure is down 1.1% on the previous year and up 9.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, rule of law index in East Timor peaked at 0.822 in 2000 and was at its lowest, 0.263, in 1976.
That places East Timor 65th out of 176 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 50 years of available data.
Rule of Law Index in East Timor, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | 0.263 | — |
| 1977 | 0.263 | +0.0% |
| 1978 | 0.263 | +0.0% |
| 1979 | 0.263 | +0.0% |
| 1980 | 0.263 | +0.0% |
| 1981 | 0.263 | +0.0% |
| 1982 | 0.263 | +0.0% |
| 1983 | 0.263 | +0.0% |
| 1984 | 0.263 | +0.0% |
| 1985 | 0.263 | +0.0% |
| 1986 | 0.263 | +0.0% |
| 1987 | 0.263 | +0.0% |
| 1988 | 0.263 | +0.0% |
| 1989 | 0.293 | +11.4% |
| 1990 | 0.293 | +0.0% |
| 1991 | 0.293 | +0.0% |
| 1992 | 0.293 | +0.0% |
| 1993 | 0.293 | +0.0% |
| 1994 | 0.293 | +0.0% |
| 1995 | 0.293 | +0.0% |
| 1996 | 0.293 | +0.0% |
| 1997 | 0.293 | +0.0% |
| 1998 | 0.293 | +0.0% |
| 1999 | 0.476 | +62.5% |
| 2000 | 0.822 | +72.7% |
| 2001 | 0.725 | -11.8% |
| 2002 | 0.683 | -5.8% |
| 2003 | 0.651 | -4.7% |
| 2004 | 0.651 | +0.0% |
| 2005 | 0.697 | +7.1% |
| 2006 | 0.676 | -3.0% |
| 2007 | 0.709 | +4.9% |
| 2008 | 0.706 | -0.4% |
| 2009 | 0.7 | -0.8% |
| 2010 | 0.7 | +0.0% |
| 2011 | 0.7 | +0.0% |
| 2012 | 0.701 | +0.1% |
| 2013 | 0.706 | +0.7% |
| 2014 | 0.668 | -5.4% |
| 2015 | 0.653 | -2.2% |
| 2016 | 0.678 | +3.8% |
| 2017 | 0.683 | +0.7% |
| 2018 | 0.684 | +0.1% |
| 2019 | 0.698 | +2.0% |
| 2020 | 0.709 | +1.6% |
| 2021 | 0.717 | +1.1% |
| 2022 | 0.706 | -1.5% |
| 2023 | 0.731 | +3.5% |
| 2024 | 0.725 | -0.8% |
| 2025 | 0.717 | -1.1% |
East Timor compared with similar countries
- East Timor's 0.717 is above the median for lower middle income countries, which is 0.3495, 2.1× the median. (46 countries reporting)
- East Timor's 0.717 is above the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 0.59, 1.2× the median. (22 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Rule of Law Index in East Timor changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | +72.7% | 0.476 | 0.822 |
| 1999 | +62.5% | 0.293 | 0.476 |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 0.263 | 0.263 | 0.263 | 4 |
| 1980s | 0.266 | 0.263 | 0.293 | 10 |
| 1990s | 0.3113 | 0.293 | 0.476 | 10 |
| 2000s | 0.702 | 0.651 | 0.822 | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.6871 | 0.653 | 0.706 | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.7175 | 0.706 | 0.731 | 6 |
Countries ranked near East Timor
More reference data data for East Timor
- Emission Totals - Emissions (CO2eq) from N2O (AR5) - Burning - Crop 2.54 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure Management 0.2854 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 0.0652 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Burning - Crop residues 0.0096 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 0.1569 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Agricultural Soils 0.6476 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (CO2eq) from N2O (AR5) - IPCC Agriculture 249.78 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (CO2eq) from N2O (AR5) - Crop Residues 17.28 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (CO2eq) from N2O (AR5) - Manure left on 112.76 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (CO2eq) from N2O (AR5) - Manure Management 75.64 (2050)
Frequently asked questions
- What is rule of law index in East Timor?
- Rule of law index in East Timor was 0.717 in 2025, according to V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest rule of law index recorded in East Timor?
- The highest recorded value was 0.822 in 2000.
- What is the lowest rule of law index recorded in East Timor?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.263 in 1976.
- How does East Timor rank for rule of law index?
- East Timor ranks 65th out of 176 countries with data for 2025.
- Is rule of law index rising or falling in East Timor?
- Over the last ten years it is up 9.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this East Timor data come from?
- The figures come from V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Rule of Law Index. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 50 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Central estimate of the extent to which the government complies with the law, courts are independent, laws transparent, justice accessible, corruption absent, and the bureaucracy is impartial.