The human freedom index 2018

The Cato Institute Human Freedom Index is out for 2018.

The Human Freedom Index presents the state of human freedom in the world based on a broad measure that encompasses personal, civil, and economic freedom. Human freedom is a social concept that recognizes the dignity of individuals and is defined here as negative liberty or the absence of coercive constraint. Because freedom is inherently valuable and plays a role in human progress, it is worth measuring carefully. The Human Freedom Index is a resource that can help to more objectively observe relationships between freedom and other social and economic phenomena, as well as the ways in which the various dimensions of freedom interact with one another.

The areas of freedom considered.

And again New Zealand is number one.

And the bottom three will not surprise too many people.

Which countries have the greatest economic freedom?

From the Economic Freedom of the World: 2016 Annual Report comes these rankings of economic freedom. The ratings are for 2014, the most recent year for which comprehensive data are available.

New Zealand is in at 3. Hong Kong is at 1 and Singapore 2.

For the record the 10 lowest-rated countries, not shown, are: Iran, Algeria, Chad, Guinea, Angola, Central African Republic, Argentina, Republic of Congo, Libya, and lastly Venezuela. Yes the Socialist paradise that is Venezuela made it to 159 out of 159. But to be fair to Venezuela, North Korea is not in the rankings and if they were Venezuela may only be second to bottom.