Freedom is a very good thing to learn at a very early age, because it makes everything possible. But a frightening piece of information - New Zealand is the most-free place of all. cato.org If this is as good as it gets, the world is a sorry place. Hong Kong is not far behind. Note that nearly all of them are derivatives of Virtuous Victorian Values, being previously part of the British Empire, even though filtered through a century of variables. Netherlands is pretty good. Denmark too.
Mqurice
>JANUARY 8, 2013 1:24PMCreating a Human Freedom Index
By
IAN VÁSQUEZ
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Until now, no global index measuring human freedom consistent with a classical liberal approach has existed. Today, as part of the Human Freedom project sponsored by Cato, the Fraser Institute, and the Liberales Institut, we are releasing the first such attempt (.pdf) devised by my colleague Tanja Stumberger and by me. The index is a chapter in Towards a Worldwide Index of Human Freedom (.pdf) (published by Fraser and Liberales).
Using indicators consistent with the concept of negative liberty—the absence of coercive constraint—we have tried to capture the degree to which people are free to enjoy classic liberties in each country: freedom of speech, religion, individual economic choice, and association and assembly. The freedom index is composed of 76 distinct variables including measures of safety and security, freedom of movement, and relationship freedoms such as assembly or legal discrimination against gays.
In this preliminary index New Zealand ranks as the most free country in the world, followed by the Netherlands and then Hong Kong. Australia, Canada, and Ireland follow, with the United States ranking in 7th place.>
Table 2: Freedom Index and Sub-Indexes Personal Freedom Economic Freedom Freedom Index
1 New Zealand 9.2 8.22 8.73
2 Netherlands 9.5 7.45 8.47
3 Hong Kong 7.8 9.02 8.39
4 Australia 8.8 7.83 8.33
5 Canada 8.7 7.92 8.33
6 Ireland 9.0 7.68 8.33
7 United States of America 8.7 7.93 8.30
8 Denmark 8.9 7.71 8.30
9 Japan 9.2 7.38 8.28
10 Estonia 8.9 7.65 8.28
11 Switzerland 8.6 7.96 8.26
12 Norway 9.2 7.34 8.26
13 Finland 8.8 7.54 8.16
14 Austria 8.7 7.59 8.13
15 Luxembourg 8.7 7.53 8.12
16 Chile 8.2 7.99 8.12
17 Iceland 9.0 7.16 8.10
18 United Kingdom 8.4 7.78 8.08
19 Slovakia 8.6 7.57 8.07
20 Costa Rica 8.8 7.35 8.05
21 El Salvador 8.5 7.58 8.04
22 Uruguay 9.4 6.67 8.03
23 Spain 8.8 7.19 8.00
24 Albania 8.6 7.38 7.98 |
