Thailand ranks 76th in terms of rule of law, according to the World Justice Project (WJP).

Source: World Justice Project

WJP, an independent organization, has released its 2019 Rule of Law Index, measuring the rule of law in 126 countries using 120,000 household surveys and 3,800 expert surveys. Thailand scores 76th in the global ranking, falling 1 place from last year although its score did not change. In 2018, it fell 7 places from 2017. (Read the full report here.)

According to the Index, Thailand ranks 10th among 15 countries in the Asia Pacific Region and 4th among the 8 ASEAN countries surveyed by WJP. The best ranking in ASEAN belongs to Singapore and the country with the lowest score is Myanmar. Lao PDR and Brunei are not in the Index. Among 38 upper middle income countries, Thailand ranks 25th. 

WJP’s 1,000 surveys in Thailand were held in Bangkok, Nakhon Ratchasima, and Udon Thani.  WJP uses 8 factors: constraint on government powers; absence of corruption; open government; fundamental rights; order and security; regulatory enforcement; civil justice; and criminal justice.

Among the 8 criteria, Thailand’s best performance on the global index is in the absence of corruption, where Thailand ranks 56th, but its lowest score is in fundamental rights where it ranks 89th.

In terms of sub-criteria, while Thailand meets the Asia-Pacific average in no corruption, limits by judiciary on government powers, absence of corruption in the judiciary, and labour rights, it is far behind the average in the right to privacy, the right to life and security, freedom of association, lawful transition of power, sanctions for official misconduct, an effective correctional system, etc.