Ghana ranked 61 out of 142 in 2023 Rule of Law Index, drops 3 spots from previous year

Ghana has dropped three places since 2021 to rank 61st in the world on the rule of law. The country ranks seventh out of 34 countries in sub-Saharan Africa according to the 2023 Rule of Law Index released on October 25. 

The Rule of Law Index by the World Justice Project (WJP) is part of an annual series of measuring people’s perceptions and experiences of the rule of law in 142 countries and jurisdictions, covering 95% of the world’s population.

The Index scores countries using an average of eight factors - Constraints on Government Powers, Absence of Corruption, Open Government, Fundamental Rights, Order and Security, Regulatory Enforcement, Civil Justice, and Criminal Justice. 

The Index shows that on those factors, Ghana ranked 35th globally and second regionally for Constraints on Government Powers. The country also ranked 101th globally and 16th regionally on the Absence of Corruption. On Open Government, Fundamental Rights, the country ranked 68th in the world and fifth regionally. And on the areas of Civil Justice, and Criminal Justice, Ghana ranked further low at 54th (globally), sixth (regionally), and 69th (globally), eighth (regionally) respectively. 

Commenting, co-founder and president of WJP William H. Neukom said: "The world remains gripped by a rule of law recession characterized by executive overreach, curtailing of human rights, and justice systems that are failing to meet people’s needs. People around the world are paying the price.”

According to publishers of the Index, more than 6 billion people in the world live in a country where the rule of law weakened between 2022 and 2023.

However, the top three performers are Denmark, Norway, and Finland. In sub-Saharan Africa, Rwanda tops (ranking 41st out of 142 globally). Closely followed are Namibia and Mauritius. 

The countries with the lowest scores are Venezuela, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Haiti, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.