The rule of law is quietly eroding across Europe, including in the Nordic countries long held up as the world's strongest performers, according to a ranking built on the World Justice Project's latest index.

Rule-of-law scores fell in 26 of the 40 European countries with comparable data between 2021 and 2026, and the four Nordic leaders were among them: Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden each lost ground. The World Justice Project's 2026 index, released on 21 October, covers 143 countries and found declines outnumbering improvements for the ninth straight year, with scores falling in 62 per cent of countries and improving in 38 per cent.

Denmark still leads the global ranking with a score of 0.898, followed by Norway on 0.890 and Finland on 0.870, with Sweden fourth worldwide. But the direction of travel is down even at the top. Within the European Union, European Free Trade Association and North America region, 17 of 31 countries recorded a deterioration in the last year, and 15 of those had also declined the previous year, according to the World Justice Project.

Russia recorded the steepest fall on the continent, dropping 0.062 points to 0.401. Greece, Bulgaria and Hungary sit at the bottom of the regional ranking. The index measures eight factors, including constraints on government power, corruption, fundamental rights, and civil and criminal justice, drawing on household and expert surveys.

The findings suggest the erosion is entrenched rather than a one-year dip, with 86 per cent of countries suffering a sustained five-year decline. Read the ranking at ZeroHedge and the World Justice Project's country briefs at worldjusticeproject.org.