Economic liberty statistics provide a structured view of how countries score on property rights, government institutions, taxation, business conditions, trade, and finance. The 2026 Index of Economic Freedom reports a global average score of 59.9 points on a 0–100 scale and rates 176 countries. Higher scores indicate more economic freedom within the index’s definitions. The 2026 publication generally uses information from the second half of 2024 through the first half of 2025, so its publication year does not mean every underlying observation occurred in 2026.
Contents
- Global economic liberty levels
- Leading economies
- Property rights and judicial effectiveness
- Government integrity and fiscal health
- Tax burden and government spending
- Business, labor, and monetary freedom
- Trade, investment, and financial freedom
Global economic liberty levels
The 2026 Index places countries into score bands that show how widely economic liberty is distributed. Four countries recorded scores of at least 80.0. Another 27 countries scored from 70.0 to 79.9, while 58 countries scored from 60.0 to 69.9. The largest group was below 60.0: 89 of the 176 rated countries fell into that category.
These are classification totals from the report, not a causal explanation of why countries receive their scores. They also describe a cross-sectional set of index measurements rather than a time series. The global average of 59.9 points should therefore be read alongside the distribution: it sits just below the 60-point threshold, while half of the rated countries were below that threshold.
The Index of Economic Freedom: Read the Report is the source for the 2026 global average, country count, and score-band totals. Its results use points rather than percentages, and the index’s component terms retain the source’s definitions.
Leading economies
Singapore ranked first in the 2026 Index with an overall economic freedom score of 84.4 points. Switzerland ranked second at 83.7, and Ireland ranked third at 83.3. The other leading-country results supplied for this comparison were:
| Country | Rank | Overall score |
|---|---|---|
| Singapore | 1 | 84.4 |
| Switzerland | 2 | 83.7 |
| Ireland | 3 | 83.3 |
| Norway | 8 | 78.8 |
| Estonia | 9 | 78.7 |
| Netherlands | 10 | 78.5 |
| Sweden | 11 | 77.8 |
| New Zealand | 12 | 77.8 |
| Finland | 13 | 76.6 |
| Canada | 14 | 75.6 |
| Lithuania | 15 | 75.3 |
Norway ranked eighth with 78.8 points, followed by Estonia in ninth with 78.7 and the Netherlands in tenth with 78.5. Sweden and New Zealand were tied at 77.8 points in 11th and 12th place. Finland ranked 13th with 76.6, Canada 14th with 75.6, and Lithuania 15th with 75.3.
All country rankings and component scores in this article come from the 2026 Index of Economic Freedom World Rankings. These figures are index measurements for the 2026 edition, not independent estimates of economic outcomes.
Property rights and judicial effectiveness
Property rights and judicial effectiveness are separate index components. The selected country scores show that a high overall result can coexist with different component profiles. Norway recorded 99.6 points for property rights, the highest property-rights figure among the countries listed here. Switzerland and Ireland each recorded 94.4, while Estonia recorded 93.6 and Singapore 89.2.
Judicial-effectiveness data in the supplied rankings are available for Singapore and Switzerland. Switzerland scored 98.3 points, compared with Singapore’s 58.3 points. The difference between these two component scores is a reminder that an overall ranking summarizes several dimensions; it should not be treated as a direct substitute for any single institutional measure.
For this Index, property rights and judicial effectiveness are measured on the same 0–100 point framework as the overall score. They are not percentages of property protected, court cases resolved, or any other standalone rate. The World Rankings PDF provides the country-level component values and the relevant 2026 Index labels.
Government integrity and fiscal health
The government-integrity scores among the leading economies ranged from 84.0 to 94.3 points in the supplied figures. Norway scored 94.3, Switzerland 93.3, Estonia 86.3, Singapore 86.1, and Ireland 84.0. These values describe the index’s government-integrity component; they do not independently establish the presence or absence of corruption, nor do they measure a causal effect on growth.
Switzerland also recorded 97.2 points for fiscal health, while Singapore recorded 80.0. Those scores are component results for the 2026 Index. They should not be read as debt-to-GDP ratios, budget balances, or forecasts. The index uses its own definitions and scoring framework, and the country rows are cross-sectional measurements.
The comparison below keeps the two institutional dimensions distinct:
| Country | Government integrity | Fiscal health |
|---|---|---|
| Singapore | 86.1 | 80.0 |
| Switzerland | 93.3 | 97.2 |
| Ireland | 84.0 | Not supplied |
| Norway | 94.3 | Not supplied |
| Estonia | 86.3 | Not supplied |
The component results are reported in the 2026 Index of Economic Freedom World Rankings. “Not supplied” means no value is included in the figures used here, not that the country received a zero score.
Tax burden and government spending
Tax burden is an index component, not a tax rate. In the 2026 Index figures, Singapore scored 89.5 points for tax burden. Estonia scored 77.9, Ireland 77.7, Switzerland 70.9, and Norway 63.3. These scores cannot be converted into a country’s headline tax percentage without additional source data and a defined tax-rate measure.
Government spending is another distinct component. Singapore scored 93.4 points and Switzerland scored 69.5. The difference between those values does not by itself quantify the size of government spending, public services, or fiscal outcomes. It only reports the relative position assigned by the Index’s scoring method.
The selected tax-burden results can be read together without treating them as rates:
| Country | Tax-burden score | Government-spending score |
|---|---|---|
| Singapore | 89.5 | 93.4 |
| Switzerland | 70.9 | 69.5 |
| Ireland | 77.7 | Not supplied |
| Norway | 63.3 | Not supplied |
| Estonia | 77.9 | Not supplied |
The 2026 Index of Economic Freedom World Rankings is the source for these component scores. The underlying observation period generally spans the second half of 2024 through the first half of 2025, even though the edition is labeled 2026.
Business, labor, and monetary freedom
Business freedom scores were 91.2 for Norway, 90.6 for Singapore, 86.3 for Switzerland, 85.5 for Ireland, and 82.8 for Estonia. Within this group, Norway had the highest supplied business-freedom score and Estonia the lowest. The figures are points on the Index scale, not counts of new businesses, startup survival rates, or regulatory processing times.
Singapore’s labor-freedom score was 77.0. Its monetary-freedom score was 83.5. These are separate components: the first concerns the Index’s labor-freedom definition, while the second concerns its monetary-freedom definition. Neither figure is a wage-growth rate, an unemployment rate, an inflation forecast, or a measure of household purchasing power.
Taken together, the supplied results show several distinct dimensions of economic liberty within the same country set. A country may have a business-freedom score above 90 while having a different score for labor or monetary freedom. Comparing the components is therefore more informative than substituting one score for all aspects of economic life.
All values in this section are from the 2026 Index of Economic Freedom World Rankings. The source language describes associations and classifications; these statistics do not establish that one component causes another.
Trade, investment, and financial freedom
Singapore scored 95.0 points for trade freedom, while Switzerland scored 87.0. Investment-freedom scores were 90 for Ireland, 90 for Estonia, and 75 for Norway. Singapore and Switzerland each recorded 80 points for financial freedom.
These components describe different parts of the Index. Trade freedom is not a country’s export value or tariff average in isolation. Investment freedom is not a forecast of incoming capital. Financial freedom is not a banking-sector return or a stock-market performance measure. The source’s component labels and definitions should remain attached to the numbers.
| Country | Trade freedom | Investment freedom | Financial freedom |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singapore | 95.0 | Not supplied | 80 |
| Switzerland | 87.0 | Not supplied | 80 |
| Ireland | Not supplied | 90 | Not supplied |
| Norway | Not supplied | 75 | Not supplied |
| Estonia | Not supplied | 90 | Not supplied |
The trade, investment, and financial figures are reported by the 2026 Index of Economic Freedom World Rankings. Because the country rows are cross-sectional index measurements, the table does not show change over time and does not support a forecast.
For context, the Index of Economic Freedom about page describes the framework behind the index. The 0–100 scores are best used to compare the specified components within the 2026 edition, while keeping the measurement period and the source’s definitions visible.