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Economy > Economic freedom: Countries Compared

DEFINITION: Index of 'economic freedom', according to the American organisation 'The Heritage Foundation'. It is worth noting that such indices are based on highly culturally contingent factors. This data makes a number of assumptions about 'freedom' and the role of the government that are not accepted by much of the world's population. A broad discussion of The Heritage Foundation's definition and methodology can be found at http://www.heritage.org/research/features/index/ChapterPDFs/chapter5.HTML.

CONTENTS

# COUNTRY AMOUNT DATE GRAPH HISTORY
1 Hong Kong 89.3 2013
2 Singapore 88 2013
3 Australia 82.6 2013
4 New Zealand 81.4 2013
5 Switzerland 81 2013
6 Canada 79.4 2013
7 Chile 79 2013
8 Mauritius 76.9 2013
9 Denmark 76.1 2013
10 United States 76 2013
11 Ireland 75.7 2013
12 Bahrain 75.5 2013
13 Estonia 75.3 2013
14 United Kingdom 74.8 2013
15 Luxembourg 74.2 2013
16 Finland 74 2013
17 Netherlands 73.5 2013
18 Sweden 72.9 2013
19 Germany 72.8 2013
20 Taiwan 72.7 2013
21 Georgia 72.2 2013
=22 Lithuania 72.1 2013
=22 Iceland 72.1 2013
=24 Austria 71.8 2013
=24 Japan 71.8 2013
26 Macau 71.7 2013
27 Qatar 71.3 2013
28 United Arab Emirates 71.1 2013
29 Czech Republic 70.9 2013
30 Botswana 70.6 2013
31 Norway 70.5 2013
=32 Jordan 70.4 2013
=32 Saint Lucia 70.4 2013
34 South Korea 70.3 2013
35 The Bahamas 70.1 2013
36 Uruguay 69.7 2013
37 Colombia 69.6 2013
38 Armenia 69.4 2013
39 Barbados 69.3 2013
40 Belgium 69.2 2013
41 Cyprus 69 2013
42 Slovakia 68.7 2013
=43 Republic of Macedonia 68.2 2013
=43 Peru 68.2 2013
45 Oman 68.1 2013
46 Spain 68 2013
47 Malta 67.5 2013
48 Hungary 67.3 2013
=49 Costa Rica 67 2013
=49 Mexico 67 2013
51 Israel 66.9 2013
52 Jamaica 66.8 2013
=53 El Salvador 66.7 2013
=53 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 66.7 2013
55 Latvia 66.5 2013
56 Malaysia 66.1 2013
57 Poland 66 2013
58 Albania 65.2 2013
59 Romania 65.1 2013
60 Bulgaria 65 2013
=61 France 64.1 2013
=61 Rwanda 64.1 2013
=61 Thailand 64.1 2013
64 Dominica 63.9 2013
65 Cape Verde 63.7 2013
=66 Portugal 63.1 2013
=66 Kuwait 63.1 2013
68 Kazakhstan 63 2013
69 Turkey 62.9 2013
70 Montenegro 62.6 2013
71 Panama 62.5 2013
72 Trinidad and Tobago 62.3 2013
73 Madagascar 62 2013
74 South Africa 61.8 2013
=75 Slovenia 61.7 2013
=75 Mongolia 61.7 2013
=77 Ghana 61.3 2013
=77 Croatia 61.3 2013
=79 Paraguay 61.1 2013
=79 Uganda 61.1 2013
81 Sri Lanka 60.7 2013
=82 Italy 60.6 2013
=82 Saudi Arabia 60.6 2013
84 Namibia 60.3 2013
85 Guatemala 60 2013
86 Burkina Faso 59.9 2013
=87 Dominican Republic 59.7 2013
=87 Azerbaijan 59.7 2013
=89 Morocco 59.6 2013
=89 Kyrgyzstan 59.6 2013
91 Lebanon 59.5 2013
92 The Gambia 58.8 2013
93 Zambia 58.7 2013
94 Serbia 58.6 2013
95 Cambodia 58.5 2013
96 Honduras 58.4 2013
97 Philippines 58.2 2013
98 Tanzania 57.9 2013
99 Gabon 57.8 2013
100 Brazil 57.7 2013
101 Benin 57.6 2013
=102 Bosnia and Herzegovina 57.3 2013
=102 Belize 57.3 2013
=104 Swaziland 57.2 2013
=104 Fiji 57.2 2013
106 Samoa 57.1 2013
107 Tunisia 57 2013
108 Indonesia 56.9 2013
=109 Vanuatu 56.6 2013
=109 Nicaragua 56.6 2013
111 Mali 56.4 2013
112 Tonga 56 2013
=113 Yemen 55.9 2013
=113 Kenya 55.9 2013
=115 Moldova 55.5 2013
=115 Senegal 55.5 2013
117 Greece 55.4 2013
118 Malawi 55.3 2013
119 India 55.2 2013
=120 Nigeria 55.1 2013
=120 Pakistan 55.1 2013
=122 Mozambique 55 2013
=122 Bhutan 55 2013
124 Seychelles 54.9 2013
125 Egypt 54.8 2013
126 Cote d'Ivoire 54.1 2013
=127 Niger 53.9 2013
=127 Djibouti 53.9 2013
129 Guyana 53.8 2013
130 Papua New Guinea 53.6 2013
131 Tajikistan 53.4 2013
132 Bangladesh 52.6 2013
=133 Cameroon 52.3 2013
=133 Mauritania 52.3 2013
135 Suriname 52 2013
136 China 51.9 2013
=137 Guinea 51.2 2013
=137 Syria 51.2 2012
=139 Russia 51.1 2013
=139 Guinea-Bissau 51.1 2013
141 Vietnam 51 2013
=142 Central African Republic 50.4 2013
=142 Nepal 50.4 2013
=144 Laos 50.1 2013
=144 Federated States of Micronesia 50.1 2013
146 Algeria 49.6 2013
147 Ethiopia 49.4 2013
148 Liberia 49.3 2013
=149 Maldives 49 2013
=149 Burundi 49 2013
151 Togo 48.8 2013
152 Sierra Leone 48.3 2013
153 Haiti 48.1 2013
154 Belarus 48 2013
=155 Bolivia 47.9 2013
=155 Lesotho 47.9 2013
157 Comoros 47.5 2013
158 Angola 47.3 2013
159 Ecuador 46.9 2013
160 Argentina 46.7 2013
161 Ukraine 46.3 2013
162 Uzbekistan 46 2013
163 Kiribati 45.9 2013
164 Chad 45.2 2013
165 Solomon Islands 45 2013
166 East Timor 43.7 2013
167 Republic of the Congo 43.5 2013
168 Iran 43.2 2013
169 Turkmenistan 42.6 2013
170 Equatorial Guinea 42.3 2013
171 Democratic Republic of the Congo 39.6 2013
172 Burma 39.2 2013
173 Eritrea 36.3 2013
174 Venezuela 36.1 2013
175 Libya 35.9 2012
176 Zimbabwe 28.6 2013
177 Cuba 28.5 2013
Group of 7 countries (G7) average (profile) 2.83 2003
High income OECD countries average (profile) 2.82 2003
Eurozone average (profile) 2.73 2003
European Union average (profile) 2.61 2003
NATO countries average (profile) 2.49 2003
Non-religious countries average (profile) 2.47 2003
Europe average (profile) 2.35 2003
Cold countries average (profile) 2.26 2003
Former Spanish colonies average (profile) 2.03 2003
Emerging markets average (profile) 2.01 2003
Middle Eastern and North Africa average (profile) 1.93 2003
Religious countries average (profile) 1.75 2003
Eastern Europe average (profile) 1.74 2003
Former French colonies average (profile) 1.74 2003
OPEC countries average (profile) 1.73 2003
Muslim countries average (profile) 1.69 2003
Former Soviet republics average (profile) 1.66 2003
178 North Korea 1.5 2013

Citation

Economy > Economic freedom: Countries Compared Map

NationMaster

Interesting observations about Economy > Economic freedom

0

Zealots, step aside, please. Invasions of Iraq, torture, etc, has nothing to do with economic freedom. Please remove your radical agenda from the facts. Economic freedom is something completely separate from any social cause.

Posted on 23 Dec 2010

Nick M

Nick M

0



Nice character attack. The credibility of the Heritage Foundation is irrelevant. Economic freedom does not mean political or social freedom. It means the freedom to trade. Socialism by its very definition opposes economic freedom.

Posted on 08 May 2010

Mike

Mike

0

If there are some issues with the credibility of the heritage foundation...the list is not ridiculous....nationmaster can cite the Fraser institutes index of economic freedom

Posted on 30 Apr 2010

OK

OK

0

People in Cuba do not need to be able to "afford" health care. Cuba has free health care and it is actually a very good health care system. This is merely an observation of the health care system not on any other government policy.

Posted on 18 Mar 2010

Nicole

Nicole

0

The "source" given for this information is the Heritage Foundation, which is a US-based right-wing political advocacy group who (among other things) pushed for the invasion of Iraq, authorization of torture, etc. They are NOT a reputable source of information, especially in economics. That is why this list looks so ridiculous to anyone who has studied the issue with any depth

Posted on 15 Feb 2010

sun

sun

0

The "source" given for this information is the Heritage Foundation, which is a US-based right-wing political advocacy group who (among other things) pushed for the invasion of Iraq, authorization of torture, etc. They are NOT a reputable source of information, especially in economics. That is why this list looks so ridiculous to anyone who has studied the issue with any depth.

Posted on 02 Aug 2009

frellthat

frellthat

0

The source for this survey is the right-wing Heritage Foundation, which is a political advocacy group that pushed for the invasion of Iraq and is NOT any kind of reputable source of information. The last time I was on this website, this table looked completely different, with the United States lagging behind most of Europe and Canada. Why was the information changed and why has it not been restored to its correct form?

Posted on 02 Aug 2009

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