Economic Freedom

The Human Freedom Index, 2017 finds Canada is no longer one of the 10 freest countries in the world, having dropped from fourth to 11th, while the United States climbed up seven spots to 17th. The index ranks 159 countries and jurisdictions based on 79 indicators of personal, civil and economic freedoms and is a joint project with the Cato Institute in the U.S. and Germany’s Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom.

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are this year tied as the most economically-free nations in the Arab world, according to Economic Freedom of the Arab World: 2017 Annual Report, co-published by the Fraser Institute, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty and the International Research Foundation. This report compares and ranks 22 Arab nations in five areas of economic freedom: size of government, including expenditures, taxes and enterprises; commercial and economic law and security of property rights; access to sound money; freedom to trade internationally; and regulation of credit, labour and business.

Economic Freedom of North America 2016 finds that New Hampshire has the highest level of economic freedom among all U.S. states for the second year in a row. The Live Free or Die state scored 8.3 out of 10 in this year’s report, which measures government spending, taxation and labour market restrictions. Among the four largest states, Florida was 2nd and Texas tied for 3rd. For the second year in a row New York was the least-free state in the country at 50th, and California ranked 49th.