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Canadians have less economic freedom today than they did in late-1970s due partly to growth of government

  • The annual index published in Economic Freedom of the World 2024 measures the degree to which people in 165 jurisdictions around the globe are allowed to make their own economic choices.
  • In the year with the most recent data (2022), the most-economically free jurisdictions were Hong Kong (1st), Singapore (2nd), Switzerland (3rd), New Zealand (4th), the United States (5th), Denmark and Ireland (tied for 6th), Canada (8th), and Australia and Luxembourg (tied for 9th).
  • Averaging across all countries, global economic freedom increased from 2000 to 2019, but declined in each of the three years since then, erasing more than a decade of gains.
  • Compared with the 25 percent least-economically free places, in the freest places:
    • GDP per person is 7.6 times greater;
    • the poorest 10 percent earn eight times as much;
    • the average person lives 16 years longer and is 40 percent more satisfied with his or her life;
    • youth literacy is nearly universal and there is no gap between boys and girls;
    • environments are cleaner; and
    • people are more tolerant of other genders, minorities, and immigrants.
  • Conversely, compared with the top 25 percent, in the 25 percent least economically-free countries:
    • the infant mortality rate is nine times greater;
    • extreme poverty is 30 times as common;
    • two-and-a-half times as many children work;
    • corruption is higher; and
    • only 78 percent of girls aged 15 to 24 are literate.
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