World Freedom Index

2017 World Freedom Index

We set out to answer the question: “Which are the freest counties in the world?”

While freedom certainly can be subjective, the Index attempts to represent the freedom of a country by looking at economic freedom, political freedom, and freedom of the press.

The World Freedom Index attempts to provide a well rounded ranking of an individual country’s freedom relative to other countries. Below is our ranking for 2017:

Country	Economic Freedom	Political Freedom	Press Freedom	Total Freedom Score	Ranking
New Zealand	92.92	98.04	91.84	94.26	1
Sweden	82.62	100.00	99.14	93.92	2
Norway	81.52	100.00	100.00	93.84	3
Switzerland	90.24	96.08	94.20	93.51	4
Finland	81.54	100.00	98.31	93.28	5
Netherlands	83.65	99.02	95.29	92.65	6
Australia	89.73	98.04	89.23	92.33	7
Denmark	82.78	97.06	96.47	92.10	8
Canada	86.81	99.02	88.57	91.47	9
Estonia	87.45	94.12	92.39	91.32	10
Luxembourg	83.81	98.04	90.89	90.91	11
Ireland	84.75	96.08	91.71	90.85	12
Iceland	82.00	97.06	93.05	90.71	13
Austria	79.53	95.10	92.49	89.04	14
Germany	81.33	95.10	90.57	89.00	15
Czech Republic	80.79	94.12	88.09	87.66	16
Belgium	74.38	95.10	93.41	87.63	17
Chile	84.52	94.12	83.46	87.37	18
Uruguay	76.50	98.04	87.42	87.32	19
United Kingdom	84.39	95.10	81.24	86.91	20
Lithuania	83.63	91.18	82.38	85.73	21
Costa Rica	71.09	91.18	94.46	85.58	22
Latvia	82.43	87.26	85.90	85.20	23
Portugal	68.24	97.06	89.55	84.95	24
Taiwan	84.48	91.18	78.54	84.73	25
Cyprus	74.38	94.12	84.40	84.30	26
United States of America	82.88	89.22	79.17	83.76	27
Slovakia	71.91	89.22	89.88	83.67	28
Spain	69.39	94.12	85.81	83.11	29
Malta	74.19	96.08	78.05	82.77	30
Mauritius	82.38	89.22	75.60	82.40	31
Jamaica	76.27	75.50	93.44	81.73	32
Japan	76.40	96.08	72.06	81.51	33
France	69.08	90.20	81.27	80.18	34
Poland	74.87	89.22	75.86	79.98	35
Romania	76.48	84.32	78.43	79.74	36
South Korea	81.86	82.36	74.40	79.54	37
Cabo Verde	61.67	90.20	86.67	79.51	38
Slovenia	64.29	92.16	81.96	79.47	39
Hong Kong	100.00	61.77	72.03	77.93	40
Italy	68.18	89.22	76.13	77.84	41
Namibia	68.20	77.46	87.87	77.84	42
Samoa	63.31	80.40	88.73	77.48	43
Trinidad and Tobago	66.66	81.38	83.34	77.13	44
Ghana	60.82	83.34	86.76	76.97	45
Belize	63.63	87.26	79.75	76.88	46
South Africa	67.89	78.44	83.98	76.77	47
Botswana	77.02	72.55	77.83	75.80	48
Israel	76.59	80.40	70.05	75.68	49
Panama	72.53	83.34	68.63	74.83	50
Croatia	64.51	87.26	71.87	74.54	51
Georgia	83.87	64.71	74.21	74.26	52
Hungary	71.98	76.48	72.61	73.69	53
Tonga	68.74	74.51	77.78	73.68	54
Bulgaria	74.39	80.40	64.93	73.24	55
Peru	75.60	72.55	70.09	72.75	56
Suriname	51.27	77.46	89.16	72.63	57
Benin	64.34	82.36	70.93	72.54	58
Mongolia	59.12	85.30	72.68	72.37	59
El Salvador	70.04	70.59	74.87	71.83	60
Senegal	60.48	78.44	75.54	71.48	61
Serbia	63.93	76.48	73.84	71.41	62
Argentina	54.05	82.36	77.65	71.35	63
Greece	59.40	84.32	70.20	71.31	64
Guyana	63.48	74.51	75.44	71.14	65
Dominican Republic	68.62	68.63	75.49	70.91	66
Albania	70.30	68.63	71.44	70.13	67
Seychelles	67.32	71.57	70.24	69.71	68
Burkina Faso	64.77	63.73	79.21	69.24	69
Tunisia	60.23	78.44	68.50	69.06	70
Montenegro	67.54	69.61	66.67	67.94	71
Brazil	56.90	79.42	66.76	67.69	72
Fiji	69.19	59.81	73.08	67.36	73
Macedonia	77.75	57.85	64.00	66.53	74
Kosovo	74.39	52.95	70.77	66.04	75
Colombia	76.53	64.71	56.67	65.97	76
Papua New Guinea	54.62	64.71	77.65	65.66	77
Paraguay	68.06	64.71	64.13	65.63	78
Moldova	62.85	62.75	70.82	65.47	79
Lesotho	58.09	64.71	72.90	65.23	80
Bosnia and Herzegovina	65.49	55.89	74.12	65.17	81
Singapore	98.55	51.97	44.35	64.96	82
Comoros	60.37	55.89	78.60	64.95	83
Madagascar	62.19	56.87	75.55	64.87	84
Armenia	77.25	46.09	70.86	64.73	85
Sierra Leone	56.56	66.67	70.41	64.55	86
Tanzania	63.58	58.83	70.51	64.31	87
Philippines	71.77	63.73	57.17	64.22	88
Malawi	56.12	63.73	72.66	64.17	89
Cote d'Ivoire	68.71	52.95	70.80	64.16	90
Indonesia	67.49	65.69	58.64	63.94	91
Bhutan	63.42	55.89	70.41	63.24	92
India	56.65	77.46	54.79	62.96	93
Bolivia	50.88	68.63	66.38	61.96	94
Liberia	52.54	62.75	69.91	61.73	95
Guatemala	68.73	54.91	59.40	61.02	96
Timor-Leste	49.21	65.69	67.73	60.88	97
Nicaragua	64.29	48.05	70.05	60.80	98
Mexico	69.37	65.69	47.07	60.71	99
Ukraine	51.34	61.77	67.26	60.13	100
Zambia	60.33	56.87	63.05	60.08	101
Nepal	59.52	52.95	67.48	59.98	102
Niger	54.51	50.01	74.91	59.81	103
Kenya	57.62	51.97	69.81	59.80	104
Mozambique	53.51	53.93	70.00	59.14	105
Ecuador	52.74	57.85	66.68	59.09	106
Togo	57.34	49.03	70.38	58.92	107
Malaysia	81.30	45.11	49.73	58.71	108
Kuwait	71.21	37.27	66.72	58.40	109
Kyrgyzstan	66.54	38.25	70.16	58.32	110
Guinea-Bissau	60.71	41.19	71.23	57.71	111
Sri Lanka	62.19	56.87	52.99	57.35	112
Nigeria	61.80	50.99	58.94	57.24	113
Mali	63.63	46.09	60.76	56.83	114
Lebanon	57.37	45.11	67.49	56.66	115
Haiti	53.16	40.21	76.00	56.45	116
Qatar	80.51	27.47	58.76	55.58	117
Uganda	66.29	36.29	63.74	55.44	118
Mauritania	58.71	31.39	75.83	55.31	119
United Arab Emirates	84.93	21.58	59.33	55.28	120
Jordan	73.02	38.25	54.40	55.22	121
Honduras	63.88	47.07	53.75	54.90	122
Morocco	67.01	42.17	55.45	54.88	123
Gabon	63.60	33.35	65.16	54.04	124
Guinea	50.74	42.17	67.31	53.41	125
Thailand	72.48	33.35	52.55	52.79	126
Bangladesh	59.38	48.05	47.85	51.76	127
Pakistan	56.86	44.13	54.01	51.67	128
Maldives	53.91	41.19	59.44	51.51	129
Cambodia	64.67	32.37	55.90	50.98	130
Turkey	71.33	39.23	41.94	50.83	131
Oman	67.71	26.49	57.96	50.72	132
Brunei	76.62	30.41	40.99	49.34	133
Myanmar	56.46	33.35	56.22	48.68	134
Algeria	49.52	36.29	54.93	46.91	135
Rwanda	74.03	25.50	40.50	46.68	136
Kazakhstan	75.71	23.54	40.62	46.62	137
Cameroon	55.68	25.50	56.51	45.90	138
Afghanistan	52.27	25.50	59.24	45.67	139
Zimbabwe	46.63	33.35	56.71	45.56	140
Angola	51.84	25.50	58.01	45.12	141
Congo, Republic of	41.94	28.45	62.73	44.37	142
Chad	52.45	19.62	58.98	43.69	143
Central African Republic	55.68	11.78	63.51	43.66	144
Swaziland	66.55	19.62	44.13	43.43	145
Russia	61.84	21.58	46.46	43.29	146
Gambia	57.54	21.58	49.98	43.03	147
Belarus	63.58	21.58	42.64	42.60	148
Democratic Republic of the Congo	61.04	20.60	42.34	41.33	149
Bahrain	75.11	13.74	34.39	41.08	150
Azerbaijan	69.43	15.70	37.57	40.90	151
Egypt	56.59	27.47	38.36	40.81	152
Tajikistan	63.09	12.76	45.41	40.42	153
Burundi	57.29	20.60	38.36	38.75	154
Ethiopia	56.67	13.74	45.32	38.58	155
Venezuela	26.70	31.39	54.79	37.63	156
Saudi Arabia	70.41	11.78	25.26	35.82	157
Iran	54.17	18.64	26.41	33.07	158
Lao P.D.R.	58.24	13.74	24.76	32.25	159
Djibouti	49.71	27.47	19.47	32.22	160
Vietnam	56.41	21.58	15.10	31.03	161
China	62.20	16.68	10.37	29.75	162
Uzbekistan	56.21	4.92	25.14	28.76	163
Equatorial Guinea	47.74	9.82	24.68	27.42	164
Sudan	52.14	7.86	15.61	25.20	165
Cuba	34.84	16.68	17.93	23.15	166
Turkmenistan	50.50	5.90	2.01	19.47	167
Eritrea	44.51	4.92	1.95	17.13	168
North Korea	1.00	4.92	1.00	2.31	169