Humankind is currently living in the most prosperous time recorded in history, according to the 2015 Index of Economic Freedom. Issues like ignorance, poverty and diseases have become easier to overcome thanks to the advancing economic freedom in many parts of the world. Economic freedom in the United Arab Emirates has also advanced, pushing the country up on the global index.
What is Economic Freedom?
The report defines economic freedom as an individual’s freedom to produce, invest, work, consume and etc. in “any way they please.” According to the report, there are 10 basic economic freedoms: business freedom, trade freedom, financial freedom and property freedom, etc. Also, countries that have freer economies are more prosperous than others. This means that economies that occupy the top spots also enjoy higher prosperity than others.
Where is the UAE?
The United Arab Emirates improved its ranking on the index by 1 point and is now the 25th freest economy in the world and the 2nd freest in the Middle East and North Africa region. The report informs that the main factors that have supported the county to move up on the list include its improved freedom of corruption, investment freedom and management of government spending. Nevertheless, the research also point out that the United Arab Emirates witnessed a modest decline in trade, fiscal and monetary freedom. Still, this decrease was so small that it did not really hinder the country’s progress . As a matter of fact, UAE is the MENA’s economy with the most significant increase on the index – 4.6 points.
Bahrain is the only MENA country that has a bigger economic freedom than the UAE. Its score in many of the examined factors is above the world average.
World’s Freest
Hong Kong is the world’s freest economy, followed by Singapore. The two countries have managed to maintain their positions on the list for 21 years in a row. New Zealand has moved up two spots and to land on the 3rd position. However, a major part of the top 10 this year is made up of European countries. The highest-rated of them is Switzerland (5), whereas Estonia and Ireland take the 8th and 9h spots, respectively.
World’s freest economies in 2015:
- Hong Kong
- Singapore
- New Zealand
- Australia
- Switzerland
- Canada
- Chile
- Estonia
- Ireland
- Mauritius
According to the research, currently, the global economy is moderately free. In addition, for the third consecutive time, the world economy saw an increase in economic freedom.
