Nearly 9-in-10 people in 165 countries around the world have experienced declining freedom in recent years, according to the latest Human Freedom Index by Canada’s Fraser Institute and the U.S.-based Cato Institute.“During the COVID pandemic, governments enacted extremely restrictive measures as a means to fight the spread of the disease and these measures clearly reduced most peoples’ freedom, which is a critical ingredient for a better life,” said Matthew D. Mitchell, Fraser Institute senior fellow and co-author of this year’s report.The index measures the degree to which people are allowed to make their own personal and economic choices. To do so, it uses 86 indicators grouped into twelve areas including the rule of law, safety and security, identity and relationships (i.e. the freedom to choose your relationship partner), freedom of movement, speech, assembly, religion, freedom from taxes, regulations, and freedom to trade internationally.On a scale of 0 to 10, where 10 represents more freedom, the average human freedom rating for 165 jurisdictions fell from 6.98 in 2019 to 6.76 in 2020 and to 6.73 in 2021, and then increased in 2022 to 6.82. This means 87.4% of the world’s population saw a fall in human freedom from 2019 to 2022, with many more jurisdictions decreasing (130) than increasing (28) their ratings and 7 remaining unchanged."The sharp decline in freedom that began in 2020 comes after years of slow descent following a high point in 2007. In the third year of the pandemic, global freedom remained at a level far below what it was in 2000," the report explained.The countries that took the top 10 places, in order, were Switzerland, New Zealand, Denmark, Luxembourg, Ireland, Finland, Australia and Iceland and Sweden (tied at 7), and Estonia.Selected jurisdictions rank as follows: Canada (11), Japan (12), Germany (14), United Kingdom and United States (tied at 17), Taiwan (19), Chile (31), South Korea (32), France (34), Brazil (70), South Africa (73), Argentina (80), Mexico (94), India (110), Ukraine (122), Nigeria (126), Russia (139), Turkey (142), China (150), Saudi Arabia (155), Venezuela (159), and Iran (163).The five least-free countries are (in descending order) Sudan, Myanmar, Iran, Yemen and Syria. Hong Kong, which was the third freest jurisdiction on Earth as recently as 2010, now ranks fiftieth on the Index.Canada ranked sixteenth in personal freedom, with its lowest score coming in the rule of law at 7.2. Economic freedom was eighth, with size of government scoring the lowest among categories at 6.4. The subcategory of government consumption scored just 3.6 and the top marginal tax rate, 5.0.People in freer jurisdictions are more prosperous than those in less-free jurisdictions. For example, the average per-capita income for the top-quartile on the index was US$56,366 compared to US$15,826 for the least-free quartile in 2022. They are also more tolerant and charitable. They file more patents and publish more scientific papers. And they report that they are more satisfied with their lives. “The evidence is clear—on average, freer people lead happier, healthier and wealthier lives,” Mitchell said.The co-authors of the report are Ian Vásquez of CATO, Matthew D. Mitchell, Ryan Murphy of the Bridwell Institute at SMU and CATO’s Guillermina Sutter Schneider.
