Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine have the lowest rule of law scores in emerging Europe, according to a new report from the World Justice Project.
According to the NGO’s Rule of Law Index for 2019, Moldova was ranked 83rd out of the 126 countries included in the research, receiving a score of 0.49. Serbia and Ukraine both received 0.50 and were ranked 78th and 77th globally.
Albania took 71st spot on the global list (0.51), while Belarus was ranked 66th (0.52), with Bosnia-Herzegovina and Hungary scoring 0.53 (ranking 60th and 57th).
North Macedonia and Bulgaria were ranked 56th and 54th, both receiving a score of 0.54. Next on the list were Croatia and Georgia (ranked 42nd and 41st, both scoring 0.61), Romania (31st/0.64), Poland (27th/0.66), Slovenia (26th/0.67) and the Czech Republic (19th/0.73).
Estonia scored by far the highest in the region (0.81) and was ranked 10th globally. Croatia and Hungary suffered the biggest declines over the past year, both falling four spots on the global list.
In World Justice Report’s corruption index, Moldova and Ukraine had the poorest scores (0.32 and 0.33), ranked 109th and 110th globally, while in terms of fundamental rights Belarus was the worst performer in the region. The country was ranked 94th globally with a score of 0.47 score.
In civil justice, Albania was ranked lowest in the region (100th/0.44), while the lowest ranked for criminal justice was Moldova, (97th/0.34).
