--- description: Denmark ahead of Norway, Sweden and Finland in World Justice Project's annual study title: Scandinavia Tops Rule of Law Ranking image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd866d84dc9beefa5/6986844f13c79f80a9190e63/103806353.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Want Justice? Try Scandinavia by [Per Liljas](/author/per-liljas/) ## Per Liljas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 7, 2014 9:41 AM CUT  Justitia Justice Statue Denkmal Skulptur sculpture Römerberg Frankfurt Gerechtigkeit. Justitia Justice Statue Denkmal Skulptur sculpture Römerberg Frankfurt Gerechtigkeit.Werner Schnell—Flickr/Getty Images by [Per Liljas](/author/per-liljas/) ## Per Liljas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 7, 2014 9:41 AM CUT The U.S. may still present itself as the “land of dreams,” but for the “land of justice,” try Scandinavia instead. The World Justice Project’s newly released [Rule of Law index](http://worldjusticeproject.org/sites/default/files/files/wjp%5Frule%5Fof%5Flaw%5Findex%5F2014%5Freport.pdf "undefined") for 2013 put Denmark in top spot ahead of neighbors Norway, Sweden and Finland. But while scoring high overall — notably for government accountability, fundamental rights, lack of corruption and criminal justice — the Nordic quartet was cautioned for discrimination against foreigners and ethnic minorities. Out of the 99 surveyed countries, the U.S. ranks in 19th place, wedged between France and Uruguay. While fairly consistent with its peers in North America and Western Europe, the U.S. was found to underperform for privacy, due process of law, fundamental labor rights, equal judicial treatment of disadvantaged groups and the unaffordability of legal assistance. With the lowest points for both government accountability and criminal justice, Venezuela captures the bottom of the list, just below Afghanistan and Zimbabwe. * **Top 10** 1\. Denmark 2\. Norway 3\. Sweden 4\. Finland 5\. Netherlands 6\. New Zealand 7\. Austria 8\. Australia 9\. Germany 10\. Singapore * **Bottom 10** 90\. Uganda 91\. Cambodia 92\. Bangladesh 93\. Nigeria 94\. Bolivia 95\. Cameroon 96\. Pakistan 97\. Zimbabwe 98\. Afghanistan 99\. Venezuela ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/15220/scandinavia-is-the-justest-place-in-the-world/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/15220/scandinavia-is-the-justest-place-in-the-world/"},"headline":"Want Justice? Try Scandinavia","datePublished":"2014-03-07T09:41:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:38:18.615Z","description":"Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland all score high marks in World Justice Project's 2013 study","url":"https://time.com/15220/scandinavia-is-the-justest-place-in-the-world/","keywords":["justice"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd866d84dc9beefa5/6986844f13c79f80a9190e63/103806353.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Per Liljas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/per-liljas/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd866d84dc9beefa5/6986844f13c79f80a9190e63/103806353.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"103806353","caption":"Justitia Justice Statue Denkmal Skulptur sculpture Römerberg Frankfurt Gerechtigkeit.","creditText":"Werner Schnell—Flickr/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/15220/scandinavia-is-the-justest-place-in-the-world/","name":"Want Justice? Try Scandinavia"}}]}] ```