Global Rankings on Economic Freedom

property rights

judicial effectiveness

government integrity

tax burden

government spending

fiscal health

business freedom

labor freedom

monetary freedom

trade freedom

investment freedom

financial freedom

sizeColumn:

World Score

visType

hbar
treemap
circles

GroupBy

none
Country Name
Region Name

aggrType

MEAN

By DrasticData

Interactive Tabular Data by DataTables

Global Rankings on Economic Freedom:

Watch (Where Does the U.S. Rank in World Economic Freedom?)

---

Global Ranking 2 of 4. World Ease of Doing Business as of 2019

In addition to the Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom and also from a somewhat different perspective, in 2019, the World Bank Group released the 16th edition of its Doing Business index. The World Bank Group utilized the following 10 measures to gauge the degree of ease it is to do business in a given country:

The graphics below provide a visual synopsis of the Doing Business index. Suffice it to say New Zealand scored the highest as the country where it is easiest to do business, and, of the countries surveyed, Somalia scored the lowest.

Watch (World Bank kills 'Doing Business' report after probe concludes pressure on rankings)

---

Global Ranking 3 of 4. 2018 Global Innovation Index

From the perspective of business innovation, in 2018, the 11th edition was released of the Global Innovation Index (GII). The Global Innovation Index is co-published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The Global Innovation Index is comprised of four main measures and a series of sub-measures as depicted in the graphic immediately below:

The next table and graphic provide a visual synopsis of the 2018 Global Innovation Index. In its 2018 edition, Switzerland [once again] achieved the honor of being named as the country with the most innovative business climate on Earth. Of the countries surveyed, Yemen was deemed as having a business sector that was least conducive to business innovation.

Watch (Global Innovation Index 2018: What's It All About?)

---

Global Ranking 4 of 4. Corruption Perceptions Index 2018

Finally, from the perspective of corruption, in 2019, Transparency International published the 24th edition of its Corruption Perceptions Index. This particular index focuses on the "perception" of corruption in a given country's public sector. It does not measure actual incidences of corruption. Transparency International broadly defines corruption as "the abuse of entrusted power for private gain."

Although the Corruption Perceptions Index focuses on perceptions of corruption in the public or government sector of society, cheating and corruption also exist in the private or business sector of these same countries. Moreover, where there exists rampant corruption in the public sector, said corruption can spillover into the private sector and adversely impact how the private sector operates. As humans prepare for 22nd century living, they must strive to eliminate corruption in all its forms from all sectors of civil society. Not only does corruption undermine the rule of law and distort the functioning of free institutions in a country's political sphere but also said corruption distorts the efficient functioning of free markets in a country's economic sphere. Corruption is the polar opposite of honesty and transparency. Corruption undermines the general faith and trust of citizens in the integrity of societal institutions.

The next graphic provides a visual synopsis of the Corruption Perceptions Index for 2018. Using a scoring scale of 0 (meaning "highly corrupt") to 100 (meaning "very clean"), in its 2018 edition of the index, Denmark achieved the honor of being named as the least (politically) corrupt country on Earth with an overall score of 88. Of the countries surveyed, Somalia was deemed as being the most (politically) corrupt country on Earth with an overall score of 10. Transparency International further noted that "more than two-thirds of countries score below 50, while the average score is just 43." Perhaps most disturbing is that the vast majority of countries assessed have made little to no progress in taking concrete steps to reduce perceived levels of corruption.

Watch (Corruption Perceptions Index Explained | Transparency International)

Several related global quality-of-life rankings worth noting include the following ones:

1. Human Development Index (HDI)


2. Social Progress Index


3. Freedom in the World


4. Vision of Humanity


5. Global Passport Power Rank


6. RSF's World Press Freedom Index

Scroll up