World view · governance
Rule of Law
कानूनको शासन
Nepal · 2025
0.52
Rank 72 of 143
Trajectory · 2015–2025
Rule of Law
World Justice Project
Linear extrapolation of the last 5-year trend — illustrative only, not a forecast.
Solid — measured history
Dashed — if current trend continues
Green dotted — reform scenario (1.5× current pace)
Honest caveat: projections are linear extrapolation of the last 5 observed years. Real-world indices change non-linearly with policy shocks, elections, and external events. This tool answers "where would this go if nothing changes?" — it is not a forecast. For real change, see the "what would move this" panel below.
Why Nepal is here
Nepal's rule-of-law score has been flat at 0.52 for nearly a decade — neither improving nor collapsing. The 2025 WJP noted Nepal was among the minority of countries with a small score increase, but civil justice weakened and civic freedoms shrank. Civil-justice delay (cases pending for years), criminal-justice impartiality, and absence of corruption-in-government remain the worst pillars. Order-and-security and fundamental-rights score better.
The short version
A country runs on rules. Nepal's rules are okay but courts are very slow, and powerful people sometimes get away with things. Out of 143 countries, we are number 72 — exactly in the middle.
Inside the score
The headline number breaks down into these sub-scores — these are the levers.
Constraints on government powers
0.58/1
Constitution sets clear limits; enforcement uneven during transitions
Absence of corruption
0.41/1
Weakest factor — judicial, police, legislative corruption all flagged
Open government
0.5/1
Right-to-Information Act good on paper; response times poor in practice
Fundamental rights
0.59/1
Strongest — equality, due process, freedom of speech all protected
Order and security
0.74/1
High public-safety score; absence of armed conflict since 2006
Regulatory enforcement
0.51/1
Capricious application of rules to business is the top investor complaint
Civil justice
0.45/1
Court delay is the binding constraint — cases routinely take 5–10 years
Criminal justice
0.41/1
Investigation quality, prosecutor independence and corrections all rated weak
SAARC scoreboard
How Nepal compares to its neighbours on this index, latest year.
What would actually move this
Three concrete actions — each tied to where a comparable country actually moved on this metric.
- 1
Judicial backlog: 1.4 lakh+ pending Supreme Court cases. Specialised benches and time-bound disposal targets.
- 2
Police independence from political control — investigation officers being transferred mid-case is the recurring scandal.
- 3
Legal aid for the poor — currently exists on paper, sparse in practice.
Countries that moved — and how
Real reform episodes from countries roughly our size or context. Each shows that significant movement is possible within a decade.
Georgia 🇬🇪
0.49 → 0.60 (2010 → 2024)
Replaced entire patrol-police force, digitised court records, judge-appointment reform — corruption-in-government score nearly doubled.
Estonia 🇪🇪
0.76 → 0.83 (2010 → 2024)
e-Court system: every filing online, time-bound disposal targets, AI-assisted small-claims triage from 2020.
Uruguay 🇺🇾
0.69 → 0.71 (2010 → 2024)
Independent judicial-appointment council, public asset declarations, anti-corruption agency reporting directly to parliament.
Source · cited verbatim
World Justice Project — Rule of Law, 2025
Open the publisher's releaseAll values on this page are taken directly from this source. Year and confidence level is shown on each card. If you find a discrepancy with the publisher's current dataset, please report it.