By : Neha Dhyani
Updated : Feb 28, 2023, 10:28
Freedom is key to the growth of any civilization. And nations through centuries have strived to establish a true, free land for their people. Those who didn't? They've gone down in the pages of history for their notorious ways. However, freedom as a concept isn't quantifiable, and it's social. So how do we assess that country A is freer than country B? Here comes the Human Freedom Index.
The Human Freedom Index is an annual report collaborated upon by the Fraser Institute and the Cato Institute. Here, the word freedom concerns the individual, civil and economic freedom of a person. It measures the dignity of an individual and how it's respected in a nation without an external coercive force impeding upon it or having it affect another's personal freedom.
Compared to other empirical methods of measuring freedom, the Human Freedom Index report is the most comprehensive way, for it reviews 82 separate indicators, which are again summed up under 12 broad categories.
Each of these factors is scored by calculating their sub-category scores. For instance, under the Rule of Law, we have Procedural, Criminal, and Civil Justice. Once the mega-factors are scored upon the average of their sub-category scores, they are then evaluated under personal and economic freedom. The average of the two, in turn, provides us with the Human Freedom Index score of a nation.
People living in areas around North America, East Asia, or Western Europe enjoy a better sense of liberty than those living in areas around South Asia, North and sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East. In the latter mentioned regions, women are at a much lesser advantage.
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As of now, the Human Freedom Index report factors in 165 countries and territories. The latest report we have in our hands is for 2019, as it is the latest year in which maximum data is available to us. However, there have been a few ups and downs, with 67 nations having improved and 82 having deteriorated their ranking.
Since the very onset of the publication of these reports in 2008, it has been seen that over 80% of the world population remains under a jurisdiction where human liberty keeps worsening. At the same time, only 17% of the human population falls under a jurisdiction where the Human Freedom Index is on a consistent rise. The latest report averages the world's Human Freedom score at a 7.12.
In the annual report of the country topped the Human Freedom Index in 2021 Switzerland, New Zealand, and Denmark ranked in the first, second, and third positions, respectively.
The state of Human Freedom Index is based on indicators like personal, civil, and economic freedom.
Parameters such as trade freedom, tax burden, judicial effectiveness, and more affect the influence on economic freedom, which in turn affects the ranking by the Human Freedom Index.
With an economic freedom score of 84.4, Singapore is the freest on the 2022 Human Freedom Index.
The Human Freedom Index acts as a resource to objectively observe the relationships between freedom and social/economic phenomenon and how these factors interact with one another.
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