This is the 25th edition of Economic Freedom of the World and this year’s publication ranks 165 countries and territories for 2019, the most recent year for which data are available. Hong Kong and Singapore retain the top two positions with a score of 8.91 and 8.81 out of 10, respectively. The authors note that the interventions of the Chinese government in 2019 and 2020 will likely have a negative impact on Hong Kong’s score going forward.

The rest of this year’s top scores are New Zealand, Switzerland, Georgia, United States, Ireland, Lithuania, Australia, and Denmark. The United States remained in 6th place in 2019. The rankings of other large economies in this year’s index are Canada (14th), Japan (18th), Germany (22nd), Italy (47th), France (53rd), Mexico (75th), Russia (100th), India (108th), Brazil (109th), and China (116th). The ten lowest‐​rated countries are: Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria, Republic of Congo, Iran, Zimbabwe, Algeria, Libya, Sudan, and, lastly, Venezuela.

Nations in the top quartile of economic freedom had an average per capita GDP of US$50,619 in 2019, compared to $5,911 for bottom quartile nations. Moreover, the average income of the poorest 10% in the most economically free nations is more than twice the average per capita income in the least free nations. Life expectancy is 81.1 years in the top quartile compared to 65.9 years in the bottom quartile.

The first Economic Freedom of the World Report, published in 1996, was the result of a decade of research by a team which included several Nobel Laureates and over 60 other leading scholars in a broad range of fields, from economics to political science, and from law to philosophy.