Mexico continues to rank among the worst countries in the world on an index that measures the rule of law based on the experiences and perceptions of the general public.

For the second consecutive year, Mexico maintained a score of 0.45 on the World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index 2019. The index uses a scale from 0 to 1, with 1 indicating the strongest adherence to the rule of law.

While Mexico’s score remained the same, its position on the index dropped two places to 99th out of 126 countries.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, Mexico ranked 26th out of 30 countries, just ahead of Honduras, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Corruption, insecurity and impunity were all factors in Mexico’s low score and ranking, the WJP said.

In the “absence of corruption” and “order and security” categories, Mexico ranked 117th out of the 126 countries while for “criminal justice” and “civil justice” it placed 115th and 113th respectively.

Mexico’s achieved its best ranking in “open government,” placing 35th. Mexico’s next best place was 73rd for “fundamental rights” followed by 84th for “constraints on government power” and 87th for “regulatory enforcement.”

The top five countries on the index were Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands.

Venezuela was the lowest-ranked country behind Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan and Mauritania.

The top three countries in Latin America were Uruguay, Costa Rica and Chile, which ranked 23rd, 24th and 25th while in North America, Canada came out on top in ninth place overall followed by the United States, which ranked 20th.

A 2018 study by the WJP determined that the rule of law is weak in every Mexican state, particularly Guerrero and Baja California Sur, which were found to be the most lawless entities in the country.

Source: El Economista (sp)