Hong Kong Reclaims Top Spot in Global Economic Freedom Index

Global Rankings and Key Players

• Hong Kong regains #1 position in Fraser Institute's 2024 Economic Freedom Report
• Singapore drops to second place with score of 8.55 (vs Hong Kong's 8.58)
• Switzerland (8.43), New Zealand (8.39), and USA (8.09) complete top 5
• Notable rankings: Japan (11th), UK (12th), Taiwan (19th), India (84th), China (104th)
• Venezuela, Zimbabwe, and Sudan rank lowest among 165 countries

Hong Kong's Success Factors

• Tops two categories: "Freedom to trade internationally" and "Regulation"
• Improved to third place in "Sound money" category

Key strengths include:

• • Common law system implementation
  • Independent judiciary
  • Free flow of goods, capital, and information
  • Simple tax system with low rates
  • Transparent market operations
  • International standard regulatory regime
• Government attributes success to "one country, two systems" principle

Global Economic Freedom Trends

• Overall global economic freedom score declined to 6.56 in 2022
• Reverses previous improvement trend from 2000-2019 (6.19 to 6.80)

Higher economic freedom correlates with:

• • 7.6 times higher GDP per capita in freest countries
  • Increased life expectancy
  • Better life satisfaction scores
  • Lower poverty rates
  • Reduced infant mortality
  • Less corruption
  • Greater access to basic services