The first Economic Freedom of the World Report was published in 1996. This is the 17th edition of the Report - produced by the Fraser Institute

Economic Freedom of the World: 

2013 Annual Report

BY JAMES GWARTNEY, JOSHUA HALL, AND ROBERT LAWSON

Download the .pdf here http://www.cato.org

The first Economic Freedom of the World Report, published in 1996, was the result of a decade of research by a team that included several Nobel Laureates and over 60 other leading scholars in a broad range of fields, including economics, political science, law and philosophy. It rapidly became the world's premier measurement of economic freedom. This is the 17th edition of the Report - produced by the Fraser Institute, a Canadian think-tank, in cooperation with the Cato Institute and the Economic Freedom Network, a group of independent research and educational institutes in nearly 90 nations and territories worldwide.

This year's publication ranks 152 nations, using 42 distinct variables to create an index ranking countries based on policies that encourage economic freedom. Economic freedom is measured in five different areas: 

(1) size of government, 

(2) legal system and security of property rights, 

(3) access to sound money, 

(4) freedom to trade internationally, and 

(5) regulation of credit, labor, and business.

Global economic freedom increased modestly in this year's report, though it remains below its peak level of 6.92 in 2007. 

After a global average drop between 2007 and 2009, the average score rose to 6.87 in 2011, the most recent year for which data is available. 

In this year's index: 

• Hong Kong  8.97  
• Singapore, 8.73; 
• New Zealand, 8.49; 
• Switzerland, 8.30; 
• United Arab Emirates, 8.07; 
• Mauritius, 8.01; 
• Finland, 7.98; 
• Bahrain, 7.93; 
• Canada, 7.93; and 
• Australia, 7.88. 

Research shows that individuals living in countries with high levels of economic freedom enjoy higher levels of prosperity, greater individual freedoms, and longer life spans.

The United States, long considered the standard bearer for economic freedom among large industrial nations, has experienced a substantial decline in economic freedom during the past decade. 

Due to overspending, weakening rule of law, and increasing regulations on the part of the U.S. government, the United States has seen its economic freedom ranking plummet in recent years, from number two in 2000, to number 17 today.