Rating

 

The RTI Rating is the leading global methodology for assessing the strength of the legal framework for the right to information (RTI) in a country. The results indicate a significant spread from countries which score less than 50 out of a possible total of 150 points (i.e. less than one-third) to several which score above 130 points, which is 90%.

The results, as shown on the map and in the By Country data table, are colour coded against the scores, with dark green for scores above 125 points, light green for scores above 100, orange for scores above 75 (the largest block of countries, in the middle), red for scores above 50 and dark red for scores of 50 and below. The results clearly indicate significant room for improvement.

At the same time, the results demonstrate that more recent laws achieve better scores. Only two of the countries in the top 25 positions first adopted laws before 2000 and both of these countries (Albania and Ukraine) substantially overhauled their laws recently.

In a similar vein, not one of the more established democracies makes it into the top 25. While this is partly a reflection of their (generally) older laws, it also points to the fact that they are not updating their laws to take into account evolving international standards.

Although there are no Western European countries in the top 25, seven Eastern European countries make it into that group, tied with Africa (including North Africa), which also has seven. Asia comes next, with six countries in the top 25, followed by Latin America and the Caribbean, with five.

Breaking the scores down into the seven main categories of the RTI Rating – Right of Access, Scope, Requesting Procedures, Exceptions & Refusals, Appeals, Sanctions & Protections, and Promotional Measures – by far the strongest average score is for Scope, which comes in at nearly 80%. In contrast, the average overall score is just under 60%, and five of the remaining six categories have averages of between 50 and 60% (with the outlier being Sanctions & Protections, which comes in at just over 35%).

RTI

Total Score out of maximum 150 points