St. Vincent and the Grenadines ranked 38 out of 139 countries on rule of law

The World Justice Project (WJP) today released the WJP Rule of Law Index® 2021, which evaluates rule of law in 139 countries or jurisdictions. The report is the first in this annual series issued since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March 2020, and it shows multi-year negative trends worsening during this period.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ overall rule of law score decreased by less than 1% in this year’s Index. At 38^th place out of 139 countries and jurisdictions worldwide, St. Vincent and the Grenadines remained in the same position in global rank.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ score places it at 5 out of 32 countries in the Latin America and Caribbean region and 2 out of 40 among upper-middle-income** countries.

Regionally, Latin America and the Caribbean’s top performer in the Index is Uruguay (25^th out of 139 countries globally), followed by Costa Rica and Chile.

The three countries with the lowest scores in the region were Nicaragua; Haiti; and Venezuela, RB (139^th out of 139 countries globally).

In the last year, 22 out of 32 countries declined in Latin America and the Caribbean. Of those 22 countries, 13 had also declined in the previous year.

Countries and jurisdictions measured in the Latin America and Caribbean region: Antigua and Barbuda; Argentina; The Bahamas; Barbados; Belize; Bolivia; Brazil; Chile; Colombia; Costa Rica; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Ecuador; El Salvador; Grenada; Guatemala; Guyana; Honduras; Jamaica; Mexico; Nicaragua; Panama; Peru; St. Kitts and Nevis; St. Lucia; St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Suriname; Trinidad and Tobago; Uruguay; Venezuela, RB.