Global Economic Freedom Index, 2020

Recently, an annual report on The Economic Freedom of the World, 2020 has been released in India which was prepared by Canada’s Fraser Institute together with a New Delhi-based think tank Centre For Civil Society.

Highlights of the report

• The report is based on the 2018 data.
• Hongkong and Singapore have topped the index, which have attained first and second position respectively.
• China is positioned 124th.
• India has reported reduction in size of,

1. Government from 8.22 to 7.16.
2. legal system and property rights from 5.17 to 5.06.
3. Freedom to trade internationally from 6.08 to 5.71 and
4. Regulation of credit, labour and business from 6.63 to 6.53.

• Though, India has ranked higher than China, standing at 105th position.
• India has dropped by 26 position this year. India was at 79th position in the 2019 edition of the report.
• New Zealand, Switzerland, US, Australia, Mauritius, Georgia, Canada and Ireland make to the top 10 countries.
• 10 lowest ranked countries are African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Republic of Congo, Algeria, Iran, Angola, Libya, Sudan and Venezuela.

About the Index

The Global Economic Freedom Index or The Index of Economic Freedom is an annual index. It was started in 1995 by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. It was started with an aim to measure the degree of economic freedom of nations across the world. It was based on the approach of Adam Smith’s ‘The Wealth of Nations’ which states that “key institutions are established to protect the liberty of individuals. These institutions pursue their own economic interests which result in greater prosperity for the larger society”. The main purpose of the report is to measure economic freedom including the levels of personal choice, ability to enter markets, security of privately owned property and rule of law. The report is created by analysing policies and institutions in 162 countries and territories.

Month: Current Affairs - September, 2020