The World’s Freest Economies, 2019

Alexandra DimitropoulouStats GateJanuary 28, 2019January 28, 2019

Hong Kong has been ranked the freest economy in the world by the Heritage Foundation based in Washington. Hong Kong has been ranked as the world’s freest economy since the Index was first published in 1995.

Globally and in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand are ranked first, second and third respectively. Switzerland is ranked 4th, while Australia is ranked 5th among the 180 countries and territories ranked by the index.

Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea are ranked 178th, 179th, and 180th respectively.

Six countries are not ranked in the 2019 index: Iraq, Libya, Liechtenstein, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen.

The World’s Freest Economies, 2019:

Rank	Country Name	Region	Score
1	Hong Kong	Asia-Pacific	90.2
2	Singapore	Asia-Pacific	89.4
3	New Zealand	Asia-Pacific	84.4
4	Switzerland	Europe	81.9
5	Australia	Asia-Pacific	80.9
6	Ireland	Europe	80.5
7	United Kingdom	Europe	78.9
8	Canada	Americas	77.7
9	United Arab Emirates	Middle East and North Africa	77.6
10	Taiwan	Asia-Pacific	77.3
11	Iceland	Europe	77.1
12	United States	Americas	76.8
13	Netherlands	Europe	76.8
14	Denmark	Europe	76.7
15	Estonia	Europe	76.6
16	Georgia	Europe	75.9
17	Luxembourg	Europe	75.9
18	Chile	Americas	75.4
19	Sweden	Europe	75.2
20	Finland	Europe	74.9
21	Lithuania	Europe	74.2
22	Malaysia	Asia-Pacific	74.0
23	Czech Republic	Europe	73.7
24	Germany	Europe	73.5
25	Mauritius	Sub-Saharan Africa	73.0
26	Norway	Europe	73.0
27	Israel	Middle East and North Africa	72.8
28	Qatar	Middle East and North Africa	72.6
29	South Korea	Asia-Pacific	72.3
30	Japan	Asia-Pacific	72.1
31	Austria	Europe	72.0
32	Rwanda	Sub-Saharan Africa	71.1
33	Macedonia	Europe	71.1
34	Macau	Asia-Pacific	71.0
35	Latvia	Europe	70.4
36	Botswana	Sub-Saharan Africa	69.5
37	Bulgaria	Europe	69.0
38	Saint Lucia	Americas	68.7
39	Jamaica	Americas	68.6
40	Uruguay	Americas	68.6
41	Malta	Europe	68.6
42	Romania	Europe	68.6
43	Thailand	Asia-Pacific	68.3
44	Cyprus	Europe	68.1
45	Peru	Americas	67.8
46	Poland	Europe	67.8
47	Armenia	Europe	67.7
48	Belgium	Europe	67.3
49	Colombia	Americas	67.3
50	Panama	Americas	67.2
51	Kosovo	Europe	67.0
52	Albania	Europe	66.5
53	Jordan	Middle East and North Africa	66.5
54	Bahrain	Middle East and North Africa	66.4
55	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Americas	65.8
56	Indonesia	Asia-Pacific	65.8
57	Spain	Europe	65.7
58	Slovenia	Europe	65.5
59	Kazakhstan	Asia-Pacific	65.4
60	Azerbaijan	Asia-Pacific	65.4
61	Costa Rica	Americas	65.3
62	Portugal	Europe	65.3
63	Brunei Darussalam	Asia-Pacific	65.1
64	Hungary	Europe	65.0
65	Slovakia	Europe	65.0
66	Mexico	Americas	64.7
67	Barbados	Americas	64.7
68	Turkey	Europe	64.6
69	Serbia	Europe	63.9
70	Philippines	Asia-Pacific	63.8
71	France	Europe	63.8
72	Dominica	Americas	63.6
73	Cabo Verde	Sub-Saharan Africa	63.1
74	Bhutan	Asia-Pacific	62.9
75	Morocco	Middle East and North Africa	62.9
76	Bahamas	Americas	62.9
77	Guatemala	Americas	62.6
78	Ivory Coast	Sub-Saharan Africa	62.4
79	Kyrgyz Republic	Asia-Pacific	62.3
80	Italy	Europe	62.2
81	Fiji	Asia-Pacific	62.2
82	Samoa	Asia-Pacific	62.2
83	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Europe	61.9
84	El Salvador	Americas	61.8
85	Paraguay	Americas	61.8
86	Croatia	Europe	61.4
87	Seychelles	Sub-Saharan Africa	61.4
88	Oman	Middle East and North Africa	61.0
89	Dominican Republic	Americas	61.0
90	Kuwait	Middle East and North Africa	60.8
91	Saudi Arabia	Middle East and North Africa	60.7
92	Montenegro	Europe	60.5
93	Honduras	Americas	60.2
94	Tanzania	Sub-Saharan Africa	60.2
95	Uganda	Sub-Saharan Africa	59.7
96	Burkina Faso	Sub-Saharan Africa	59.4
97	Moldova	Europe	59.1
98	Russia	Europe	58.9
99	Namibia	Sub-Saharan Africa	58.7
100	China	Asia-Pacific	58.4
101	Papua New Guinea	Asia-Pacific	58.4
102	South Africa	Sub-Saharan Africa	58.3
103	Mali	Sub-Saharan Africa	58.1
104	Belarus	Europe	57.9
105	Cambodia	Asia-Pacific	57.8
106	Greece	Europe	57.7
107	Nicaragua	Americas	57.7
108	Tonga	Asia-Pacific	57.7
109	Ghana	Sub-Saharan Africa	57.5
110	Laos	Asia-Pacific	57.4
111	Nigeria	Sub-Saharan Africa	57.3
112	Trinidad and Tobago	Americas	57.0
113	Guyana	Americas	56.8
114	Madagascar	Sub-Saharan Africa	56.6
115	Sri Lanka	Asia-Pacific	56.4
116	Vanuatu	Asia-Pacific	56.4
117	Senegal	Sub-Saharan Africa	56.3
118	Gabon	Sub-Saharan Africa	56.3
119	Mauritania (Islamic Republic of)	Sub-Saharan Africa	55.7
120	Guinea	Sub-Saharan Africa	55.7
121	Bangladesh	Asia-Pacific	55.6
122	Tajikistan	Asia-Pacific	55.6
123	Belize	Americas	55.4
124	Comoros	Sub-Saharan Africa	55.4
125	Tunisia	Middle East and North Africa	55.4
126	Mongolia	Asia-Pacific	55.4
127	Benin	Sub-Saharan Africa	55.3
128	Vietnam	Asia-Pacific	55.3
129	India	Asia-Pacific	55.2
130	Kenya	Sub-Saharan Africa	55.1
131	Pakistan (Islamic Republic of)	Asia-Pacific	55.0
132	Eswatini	Sub-Saharan Africa	54.7
133	Solomon Islands	Asia-Pacific	54.6
134	Sao Tome and Principe	Sub-Saharan Africa	54.0
135	Guinea-Bissau	Sub-Saharan Africa	54.0
136	Nepal	Asia-Pacific	53.8
137	Ethiopia	Sub-Saharan Africa	53.6
138	Zambia	Sub-Saharan Africa	53.6
139	Burma	Asia-Pacific	53.6
140	Uzbekistan	Asia-Pacific	53.3
141	Maldives	Asia-Pacific	53.2
142	Lesotho	Sub-Saharan Africa	53.1
143	Haiti	Americas	52.7
144	Egypt	Middle East and North Africa	52.5
145	Cameroon	Sub-Saharan Africa	52.4
146	Gambia	Sub-Saharan Africa	52.4
147	Ukraine	Europe	52.3
148	Argentina	Americas	52.2
149	Micronesia	Asia-Pacific	51.9
150	Brazil	Americas	51.9
151	Niger	Sub-Saharan Africa	51.6
152	Afghanistan (Islamic Republic of)	Asia-Pacific	51.5
153	Malawi	Sub-Saharan Africa	51.4
154	Lebanon	Middle East and North Africa	51.1
155	Iran (Islamic Republic of)	Middle East and North Africa	51.1
156	Angola	Sub-Saharan Africa	50.6
157	Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo	Sub-Saharan Africa	50.3
158	Togo	Sub-Saharan Africa	50.3
159	Chad	Sub-Saharan Africa	49.9
160	Liberia	Sub-Saharan Africa	49.7
161	Central African Republic	Sub-Saharan Africa	49.1
162	Burundi	Sub-Saharan Africa	48.9
163	Mozambique	Sub-Saharan Africa	48.6
164	Turkmenistan	Asia-Pacific	48.4
165	Suriname	Americas	48.1
166	Sudan	Sub-Saharan Africa	47.7
167	Sierra Leone	Sub-Saharan Africa	47.5
168	Kiribati	Asia-Pacific	47.3
169	Djibouti	Sub-Saharan Africa	47.1
170	Ecuador	Americas	46.9
171	Algeria	Middle East and North Africa	46.2
172	Timor-Leste	Asia-Pacific	44.2
173	Bolivia	Americas	42.3
174	Equatorial Guinea	Sub-Saharan Africa	41.0
175	Zimbabwe	Sub-Saharan Africa	40.4
176	Congo, Republic of	Sub-Saharan Africa	39.7
177	Eritrea	Sub-Saharan Africa	38.9
178	Cuba	Americas	27.8
179	Venezuela	Americas	25.9
180	Korea, North	Asia-Pacific	5.9

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Alexandra Dimitropoulou

VP and News Editor

Alexandra Dimitropoulou is a VP and News Editor at CEOWORLD magazine, working to build and strengthen the brand’s popular, consumer-friendly content. In addition to running the company’s website, CEOWORLD magazine, which aims to help CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, and other C-level executives get smarter about how they earn, save and spend their money, she also sits on the Board of Directors of the Global Business Policy Institute. She can be reached on email alexandra-dimitropoulou@ceoworld.biz. You can follow her on Twitter at @ceoworld.

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