Ukraine back on list of least economically free countries

Ukraine is once again on the list of the world's least economically free countries. Source: Economic Freedom in the World report prepared by the Canadian Fraser Institute Details: Ukraine was ranked 150th among 165 countries and territories in the updated ranking, down from 113rd position last year. 

This drop is due to the fact that the ranking, for the first time, takes into account the data collected after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

Countries such as Yemen, Libya, Iran, Argentina, Myanmar, Algeria, Syria, Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Venezuela are at the bottom of the ranking table alongside Ukraine.  Ukraine's score on key components of economic freedom:

• Size of government: deterioration from 7.29 to 5.83.
• Legal system and property rights: deterioration from 4.58 to 4.37.
• Access to reliable money: deterioration from 6.39 to 4.68.
• Freedom of international trade: deterioration from 6.68 to 6.05.
• Regulation of the labour market and business: deterioration from 5.37 to 4.67.

It is also reported that Hong Kong topped the ranking, pushing Singapore to second place. They are followed by Switzerland, New Zealand, and the United States.

The Baltic states - Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania - have also been in the first quartile of the ranking for many years.  It is noted that the global average indicator of economic freedom continues to decline.  The level of global economic freedom peaked in 2019, but it declined over the next three years, which is unprecedented in the more than 25 years of measuring economic freedom.

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