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Singapore led the Index of Economic Freedom in 2024, with an index score of 83.5 out of 100. Switzerland, Ireland, Taiwan, and Luxembourg rounded out the top five.

Economic Freedom Index

In order to calculate the Economic Freedom Index, the source takes 12 different factors into account, including the rule of law, government size, regulatory efficiency, and open markets. All 12 factors are rated on a scale of zero to 100 and are weighted equally. Every country is rated within the Index in order to provide insight into the health and freedom of the global economy.

Singapore's economy

Singapore is one of the four so-called Asian Tigers, a term used to describe four countries in Asia that saw a booming economic development from the 1950s to the early 1990. Today, the City-State is known for its many skyscrapers, and its economy continue to boom. It has one of the lowest tax-rates in the Asia-Pacific region, and continues to be open towards foreign direct investment (FDI). Moreover, Singapore has one of the highest trade-to-GDP ratios worldwide, underlining its export-oriented economy. Finally, its geographic location has given it a strategic position as a center connecting other countries in the region with the outside world. However, the economic boom has come at a cost, with the city now ranked among the world's most expensive.

Country ranking of the 2024 Index of Economic Freedom

Characteristic	Index value*
Singapore	83.5
Switzerland	83
Ireland	82.6
Taiwan	80
Luxembourg	79.2
New Zealand	77.8
Denmark	77.8
Estonia	77.8
Sweden	77.5
Norway	77.5
Netherlands	77.3
Finland	76.3
Australia	76.2
South Korea	73.1
Lithuania	72.9
Canada	72.4
Cyprus	72.2
Germany	72.1
Mauritius	71.5
Latvia	71.5
Chile	71.4
United Arab Emriates	71.1
Iceland	70.5
Czechia	70.2
United States	70.1
Israel	70.1
Uruguay	69.8
Qatar	68.8
Portugal	68.7
United Kingdom	68.6
Bulgaria	68.5
Georgia	68.4
Austria	68.4
Jamaica	68.1
Slovakia	68.1
Botswana	68
Costa Rica	67.7
Japan	67.5
Croatia	67.2
Samoa	67.2
Barbados	66.8
Poland	66
Brunei Darussalam	65.9
Slovenia	65.9
Malaysia	65.7
Belgium	65.6
Armenia	64.9
Albania	64.8
Peru	64.8
Malta	64.5

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Release date

February 2024

More information

Region

Worldwide

Survey time period

Second half of 2022 and first half of 2023

Supplementary notes

* The Index of Economic Freedom measures the degree of economic freedom in a country on a scale from 0 to 100, based on four complex sets of indicators. The sets of indicators are: Rule of Law (property rights, freedom from corruption); Government size (tax burden, fiscal health); Limited Government (fiscal freedom, government spending); Regulatory Efficiency (business freedom, labor freedom, monetary freedom); Open Markets (trade freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom); Investment freedom (investment restrictions, foreign investment code, restrictions on land ownership, sectoral land ownership, expropriation of investments without fair compensation, foreign exchange control, capital control); Financial freedom (the extent of government regulation of financial services, the degree of state intervention in banks and other financial firms through direct and indirect ownership, government influence on the allocation of credit, the extent of financial and capital market development, openness to foreign competition).

Economic freedom is defined by the Heritage Foundation as the fundamental right of every human to control his or her own labor and property. In an economically free society, individuals are free to work, produce, consume, and invest in any way they please, with that freedom both protected by the state and unconstrained by the state. In economically free societies, governments allow labor, capital and goods to move freely, and refrain from coercion or constraint of liberty beyond the extent necessary to protect and maintain liberty itself.

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