Please Note: The index uses sources that are 1-2 years behind the present, so any recent developments related to COVID-19 are not captured.
The State of World Liberty Index was a combination of indices compiled originally by Nick Wilson in 2006. Since then, I've periodically updated the index. My methodology is similar to the original with the following exceptions: I use only the civil liberties portion of Freedom House, economic liberty (Fraser/Heritage) is weighted evenly with social liberty, and the Reporters without Borders Press Freedom Scores are of equal weight to each of the Freedom House Civil Liberties sub-components. All changes are done with the purpose of creating the most accurate relative ranking of countries by the degree of liberty (economic and social) enjoyed by the average individual within the state or territory. Note, the ranking is not reflective of, nor does it include, political or electoral rights. Where data is available, territories or colonies (e.g. Hong Kong) are included.
Also included is a ranking of the Conservative-Progressive spectrum, where conservative is very high economic liberty relative to social liberty, and progressive is very high social liberty relative to economic liberty. This added dimension allows for grouping states by both freedoms and ideology, such as Moderate Free (United Kingdom) and Moderate Tyranny (Angola), Progressive Free (Norway) and Progressive Tyranny (Venezuela), and Conservative Free (Hong Kong) and Conservative Tyranny (Turkmenistan).
Also please note, rankings used to create the below are typically delayed by one to two years. So, they do not fully reflect any recent events that may have occurred within the past 6-12 months like the COVID-19 pandemic or the Biden presidency.
Full rankings, along with past years, are here: (LINK)
2021 Liberty by Quintile. Colors represent countries grouped by quintiles in order of blue (top 20%), green (20-40%), yellow (40-60%), orange (60-80%), and red (80-100%).
2021 Most Free Countries:
1. New Zealand
2. Switzerland
3. Ireland
4. Australia
4. Canada
4. Finland
4. Denmark
8. Netherlands
9. Sweden
9. Norway
9. Estonia
9. Luxembourg
2021 Most Oppressive Countries:
1. North Korea
2. Venezuela
3. Libya
4. Eritrea
4. Syria
4. Cuba
7. Turkmenistan
8. Iran
9. Sudan
10. Yemen
2021 Five Year change in Liberty. Blue is an increase in rank by >20 and green >10 since 2017. Orange is a fall in rank of >10 and red >20 since 2017.
2021 Greatest 5 Year Increase:
1. The Gambia
2. Ecuador
3. Malaysia
4. Uzbekistan
5. Thailand
5. Timor-Leste
5. Sri Lanka
5. Argentina
9. Angola
9. Slovenia
2021 Greatest 5 Year Decrease:
1. Nicaragua
2. Burkina Faso
3. Tanzania
4. Hong Kong
5. Dominica
6. India
7. Namibia
7. Kiribati
9. Tunisia
9. Liberia
9. Comoros
9. Tajikstan
2021 Conservative-Progressive Ranking. Grouped by quintile, red is very conservative, pink is conservative, yellow is moderate, light blue is progressive, and blue is very progressive.
The below image graphs the amount of liberty enjoyed by the average citizen of a state (x-axis) by the balance of whether the state more heavily regulates economic or social behaviors (y-axis).
2021 Most Conservative:
1. Bahrain
2. Singapore
3. Saudi Arabia
4. United Arab Emirates
4. Azerbaijan
6. Rwanda
7. Turkmenistan
8. Uzbekistan
8. Eritrea
10. China
2021 Most Progressive
1. Kiribati
2. Micronesia
3. Dominica
4. Barbados
5. Argentina
6. Suriname
7. Belize
8. Sao Tome y Principe
8. Uruguay
8. Norway