The Human Freedom Index
By, Ian Vasquez and Tanja Porcnik
"Populism threatens freedom by pitting "us" against "them" and, when successful, by often suppressing the freedom of "them" as well as undermining the rule of law, the essential guardian of freedom.
Safety and security are also essential to freedom. If it is not safe to walk down the street, to express yourself, to attend a meeting, and so on, freedom is diminished.
One of the great advantages of this index is the granularity it provides. Within economic and personal freedom, the index examines 12 different areas: rule of law; security and safety; freedom of movement; freedom of religion; association; assembly, and civil society; expression and information; identity and relationships; size of government; legal system and property rights; sound money; freedom to trade; and regulation.
Only three areas have shown an increase in freedom since 2008 - namely, sound money, freedom to trade and regulation, the latter two with relatively small gains. The big losers are rule of law; movement; association, assembly, and civil society; and expression and information.
Similarly, freedom declined between 2008 and 2015 in most regions of the world, particularly Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa." page 8
"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.
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."
Human Freedom Index 2017 Infogram
Top 10 jurisdictions in order were
- Swizterland
- Hong Kong
- New Zealand
- Ireland
- Australia
- Finland
- Norway
- Denmark
- Netherlands
- United Kingdom
(11) Canada
(13) Sweden
(16) Germany
(17) United States
(73) Mexico
(130) China
(154) Iran
(155) Egypt . . .
"Countries in the top quartile of freedom enjoy a significantly higher per capita income.The HFI finds a strong correlation between human freedom and democracy.
The findings in the HFI suggest that freedom plays an important role in human well-being, and they offer opportunities for further research into the complex ways in which freedom influences, and can be influenced by, political regimes, economic development and the whole range of indicators of human well-being. . . . "
~ Read the entire publication @: The Human Freedom Index 2017
By, Ian Vasquez and Tanja Porcnik
By, Ian Vasquez and Tanja Porcnik
~ Read brief summary @: CATO Institute
