Economic Freedom Index by Country 2024

Each year, the Heritage Foundation calculates and publishes the Economic Freedom Index (EFI) for each of 184 countries. This index shows the degree of freedom citizens of a country have in the economy.

What the Economic Freedom Index Means

The EFI gives insight into how much freedom citizens of countries have in working, producing, investing, and consuming without governments constraining these liberties. Countries that have higher EFI values have greater economic freedom for their citizens compared to places with lower EFI.

According to the Heritage Foundation, high levels of economic freedom within a country correlate to greater wealth per person, less poverty, greater human development, and healthier environments and societies.

Factors Used to Calculate the Economic Freedom Index

To calculate the EFI for each country, the Heritage Foundation measures 12 types of economic freedoms. These freedoms fall into four main categories.

The first category, the rule of law includes measurements of the effectiveness of judges, individual property rights, and the integrity of the government. Second, the government size encompasses the tax burden, national fiscal health, and government spending. Third, the regulatory efficiency category looks at the three freedoms of money, business, and labor. Finally, the fourth category, open markets measures freedom to invest, trade, and handle finances within a country.

Each freedom within a category gets a grade from 0 to 100. These 12 freedom scores have equal weight when averaged to find the nation's Economic Freedom Index.

Countries with the Highest Economic Freedom Index

The nations with the highest EFI earn the economic status of free. Within these nations, the government permits the greatest level of freedom for its citizens to allow for free trade and business operations.

As of 2023, only four countries were free with EFI scores greater than 80. These top countries are Singapore, Switzerland, Ireland, and Taiwan. Singapore holds the distinction of having the highest EFI worldwide in 2023, with a score of 83.90.

Countries with the Lowest Economic Freedom Index

Low EFI scores indicate countries that have very restrictive environments for personal economic growth, indicative of low scores on the 12 economic freedoms.

Countries that have EFI scores of 49.90 or lower fall into the economic category of repressed. As of 2023, 28 countries fell into this status. North Korea had the lowest score of 2.90. The second lowest was Cuba, which had a higher score of 24.30.