Malta has fallen one position to 31st out of 143 countries in the World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index 2025, reflecting a modest 0.2% decline in performance. The country’s overall score now stands at 0.67, below the regional average of 0.73 but still higher than the global average of 0.55.
Within the European Union, Malta ranks 19th out of 27 member states, and 23rd out of 31 in its broader regional grouping, which includes the EU, EFTA, and North America the report, published today, shows.
This latest result continues a gradual downward trend that began in 2021, when Malta scored 0.68. The score remained stable through 2023 before slipping slightly in both 2024 and 2025.
The WJP report warns of a “deepening global recession” in governance, with 68% of countries experiencing declines this year. This marks the eighth consecutive global drop, driven by weakened checks on government powers, shrinking civic space, and growing threats to judicial independence.
Malta’s score of 0.67 places it below the regional average of 0.73, which includes 31 high-income democracies such as Denmark, Norway, Germany, and the United States. The top performers in the region remain Denmark (0.90, rank 1), Norway (0.89, rank 2), Finland (0.87, rank 3), and Germany (0.83, rank 6), all of which maintain strong systems of judicial independence and accountability.
Within the EU, Malta ranks 19th, just behind Portugal and Cyprus, but ahead of Poland (0.66), Italy (0.66), Slovakia (0.64), Romania (0.61), Croatia (0.61), Greece (0.60), Bulgaria (0.55), and Hungary (0.50). Two-thirds of EU countries recorded lower scores than in 2024, due to reduced government openness, deterioration in the justice system, and weaker regulatory enforcement. Hungary, under the leadership of Viktor Orbán, registered the most significant decline, with a score of just 0.50 – the lowest among EU member states.
Malta performs well in the areas of Order and Security, where it scored 0.91 and ranked 12th globally, and Fundamental Rights, where it scored 0.74 and ranked 26th. Both results are above global averages and close to regional norms.
However, the country underperforms in Constraints on Government Powers (0.61, rank 43), Regulatory Enforcement (0.58, rank 45), and Civil Justice (0.60, rank 48), all of which fall below the regional average of roughly 0.70 to 0.73. Moderate results were recorded in Absence of Corruption (0.64, rank 40), Open Government (0.63, rank 32), and Criminal Justice (0.63, rank 27).
The WJP Rule of Law Index 2025 is based on data gathered from more than 215,000 individuals and 4,100 legal professionals and academics across 143 countries. It assesses eight key dimensions of governance: constraints on government powers, absence of corruption, open government, fundamental rights, order and security, regulatory enforcement, civil justice, and criminal justice.
The index combines results from two main sources: Qualified Respondents’ Questionnaires (QRQs), completed by legal experts across various fields, and a General Population Poll (GPP) that reflects citizens’ real-life experiences with the justice system.