Last week, Canadian Fraser Institute released new rankings of economic freedom in the world which is measured by a tool called “Economic Freedom of the World Index”. The results, calculated and presented since 1996 with participation of Liberalni Institut and nowadays by Centre for Economic and Market Analyses, conclude that the Czech Republic is 52nd freest country in the world.

The final score the Czech Republic reached is 7.25 out of the maximum value of 10. It means that the Czech Republic shares its position (52) with Botswana between the first third and the second third of the ranking of all 152 countries.

“The position of the Czech Republic is nothing we could be proud of,” was the comment made by representatives of Centre for Economic and Market Analyses during the press conference last Thursday. “We are worse than such countries as Albania (ranking 48th, index 7.27), Romania (ranking 45th, index 7.32), Rwanda (ranking 36th, 7.46 index) or Georgia (ranking 25th, 7.61 index).”

Our closest neighbor, Slovakia, is an economically freer country than the Czech Republic, as it usually was in the past years (Slovakian index 7.46, position No. 36).

Graph: the Czech Republic and Slovakia

 

Data source: Fraser Institute

The position of the freest country in the world has been defended by Hong Kong (index 8.97); the silver medalist is another “Asian Tiger” – Singapore (9.73), with New Zealand (8.49) and Switzerland (8.30) as the runners-up. The TOP 5 is closed by the United Arab Emirates (8.07). It is interesting that only one representative of the European Union – Finland on the 7th position (7.98) – qualified in the top ten freest countries in the world.

Table: Economic Freedom of the World Index 2013 (TOP 20)

 

EFW 2013

EFW 2012

Rank

 Country

Score

Score

Rank

1.

 Hong Kong

8,97

9,02

1

2.

 Singapore

8,73

8,73

2

3.

 New Zealand

8,49

8,35

3

4.

 Switzerland

8,30

8,31

4

5.

 United Arab Emirates

8,07

7,96

6

6.

 Mauritius

8,01

7,95

7

7.

 Finland

7,98

7,90

8

8.

 Bahrain

7,93

7,80

13

8.

Canada

7,93

8,05

5

10.

 Australia

7,88

7,90

9

11.

 Chile

7,87

7,95

7

12.

 United Kingdom

7,85

7,82

12

13.

 Jordan

7,81

7,74

16

14.

 Denmark

7,78

7,89

11

15.

 Taiwan

7,77

7,77

15

16.

 Estonia

7,76

7,79

14

17.

 USA

7,73

7,74

16

18.

 Cyprus

7,72

7,74

16

19.

 Germany

7,68

7,57

24

20.

 Ireland

7,66

7,62

20

Data source: Fraser Institute

Wondering how global leaders perform? The United States of America reached 17th position (index 7.73), Russia is on the 101st position (6.55), and China is ahead of Nigeria ranking 123rd (index 6.22).

According to the index value of 3.93, the unflattering title of the “un-freest country in the world” goes to Venezuela. Burma (4.08) and the Republic of Congo (4.57) fared little better.

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Economic Freedom of the World Index is a comprehensive indicator of economic freedom of individual countries. It is constructed of a total of five sub-indices which measure these freedoms: public sector and its involvement; rule of law and protection of property rights; money and non-inflationary environment; freedom to trade internationally; regulation. The total score is calculated as an average of sub-indices. The highest economic freedom in a country is characterized by a value of 10, “un-freedom” by value 0.

 

Download “Economic Freedom of the World Annual Report 2013” here!