Romania no longer among EU's top three most corrupt countries

Romania is no longer among the European Union's three most corrupt countries, according to the 2025 Rule of Law Index by the World Justice Project (WJP). The country now ranks fourth from the bottom in the European corruption rankings, an improvement from the previous year when it was among the bottom three.

In the "Absence of Corruption" indicator, Romania achieved a score of 0.53. Globally, this places the country at 57th out of 143 evaluated nations. Within the region comprising EU, EFTA, and North American states, Romania ranks 28th out of 31. Among high-income countries, Romania holds the 44th position out of 51.

The index analyzes various forms of corruption, including bribery, undue influence from public or private interests, and embezzlement of public funds. It assesses institutions such as the executive, legislature, judiciary, police, and military. Romania's weakest performance is in the integrity of its legislators, with a score of 0.25. In contrast, it scores better for officials in the judiciary (0.71) and police and military (0.69).

In the EU context, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Slovakia now exhibit weaker results than Romania concerning the absence of corruption. Other European nations at the lower end of the rankings include Greece, Croatia, and Italy. Denmark, Norway, and Sweden lead the rankings with some of the best results.