Previous Year Question

The Rule of Law Index is released by the World Justice Project. It provides an experience-based and comparative assessment of adherence to the rule of law across different countries.

The Index does not merely examine the provisions written in a country’s constitution or statutes. It also assesses the extent to which individuals and institutions experience in practice:

• constraints on government powers;

• protection against corruption;

• access to justice;

• protection of fundamental rights; and

• impartial enforcement of laws.

The WJP Rule of Law Index is organised around eight principal factors:

1. Constraints on Government Powers

2. Absence of Corruption

3. Open Government

4. Fundamental Rights

5. Order and Security

6. Regulatory Enforcement

7. Civil Justice

8. Criminal Justice

Scores generally range from 0 to 1, with a score closer to 1 indicating stronger adherence to the rule of law.

Why are the other options incorrect?

• Amnesty International publishes reports and assessments on human rights, but it does not publish the WJP Rule of Law Index.

• The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations dealing with disputes between States and advisory opinions; it does not release this Index.

• The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights monitors and promotes human rights, but the Rule of Law Index is not its publication.

Current position (2026)

As of September 2026, the latest available edition is the WJP Rule of Law Index 2025. It:

• covered 143 countries and jurisdictions;

• used approximately 215,000 household surveys;

• drew upon information from approximately 4,100 legal practitioners and experts; and

• covered countries representing approximately 95% of the world’s population.

In the 2025 Index, India:

• ranked 86th out of 143 countries globally;

• ranked third out of six countries in South Asia; and

• recorded an approximately 1.7% decline in its overall score compared with the previous year.

Globally, rule-of-law scores declined in 68% of countries covered in 2025. Thus, the institutional answer remains unchanged—the Index is issued by the World Justice Project—while India’s latest available position is 86th out of 143.