Personal freedom around the world has declined “significantly” in recent years – and the worst is yet to come, two think tanks have warned in a new report.
The Fraser Institute and Cato Institute’s 2020 Human Freedom Index measures the rule of law, safety, LGBTQ rights, women’s freedom, freedom of speech and freedom of religion, alongside economic freedom.
Canada came in sixth, 11 places ahead of the UK and USA.
Top was New Zealand, followed by:
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Switzerland
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Hong Kong
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Denmark
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Australia
Bottom was Syria.
“Troubling developments include the Chinese Communist Party intensifying its attack on freedom, regimes in Hungary and Poland continuing to undermine the rule of law and suppress media freedom, and dictatorships in Egypt and other Arab countries ramping up repression,” said Fred McMahon, Dr. Michael A. Walker Research Chair in Economic Freedom at the Fraser Institute and co-author of this year’s Human Freedom Index.
The study found that economic freedom increased slightly between 2008 and 2018.
But personal freedom declined, with freedom of religion taking the biggest hit.
”Regionally, from 2008 to 2018, the Middle East and North Africa saw the largest declines while North America and Western Europe experienced small declines yet remained the freest regions worldwide,” the study said.
“Crucially, people in freer countries are more prosperous than those in less-free countries. For example, the average per-capita income for the top-quartile countries on the index was US$50,340 compared to US$7,720 for the least-free quartile in 2018.”
Thumbnail photo credit: 123RF
