United States Ranks 20th on New Human Freedom Index
The United States ranks 20th on a new index released this week that presents the state of human freedom in the world. The Human Freedom Index (HFI) is the most comprehensive measure of freedom ever created for a large number of countries around the globe. The index is co-published by the Cato Institute, the Fraser Institute in Canada, and the Liberales Institut at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom in Germany.
The index ranks 152 countries based on 76 indicators of personal, civil, and economic freedom, using data from 2008 to 2012, the most recent year sufficient data is available.
Human freedom encompasses far more than economic matters.
The HFI captures the degree to which people are free to enjoy major freedoms such as freedom of speech, religion, and association and assembly, as well as measures freedom of movement, women’s freedoms, crime and violence, and legal discrimination against same-sex relationships.
The authors of the study—Ian Vasquez, Director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, and Tanja Porcnik, a Cato Institute adjunct scholar and President of the Visio Institute based in Slovenia—also measure the rule of law, which they consider “an essential condition of freedom that protects the individual from coercion.”
The U.S. fell from 17th place in 2008 to 20th place in 2012. The U.S. decline reflects a long-term drop in every category of economic freedom and in its rule-of-law indicators.
Hong Kong tops the rankings followed by Switzerland, Finland, Denmark, and New Zealand. Other notable countries are Canada (ranked 6th), United Kingdom (9th), Chile (18th), Russia (111th), China (132nd), Zimbabwe (149), and Iran which comes in last.
“Hong Kong is an outlier in our index since we find a strong relationship between human freedom and democracy, which we consider important but do not measure in the index. The danger is that China’s efforts to limit democracy in Hong Kong will lead to increasing interference in the territory’s institutions, something we are already beginning to see, thereby reducing Hong Kong’s ranking,” said Vasquez.
The freest countries in the world by quartile enjoy much greater income per person ($30,006) compared to the rest (the average income of the next quartile is $6,393).
“Freedom is inherently valuable and plays a central role in human progress, so it is worth measuring carefully,” continued Vasquez. “Over time, the Human Freedom Index could track not only specific gains and loses of freedom but also explore 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.”
Want a quick briefing before diving into the report? Check out this short podcast in which study co-author Ian Vasquez discusses the new Human Freedom Index.
