Data source: Heritage Foundation
The Index of Economic Freedom covers 10 freedoms - from property rights to entrepreneurship - in 186 countries.
Note: For the 2015, most data covers the second half of 2013 through the first half of 2014. To the extent possible, the information considered for each factor was current as of June 30, 2014. It is important to understand that some factors are based on historical information. For example, the monetary policy factor is a 3-year weighted average rate of inflation from January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2013.
When using this dataset, please cite as:
(Miller et al., 2021)
Browse variables and select them for download.
hf_business
The business freedom score encompasses 10 components, all weighted equally, based on objective data from the World Bank's Doing Business study (in 2005-2006; previously other data sources were being u ...
hf_efiscore
The Economic Freedom index uses 10 specific freedoms, some as composites of even further detailed and quantifiable components: - Business freedom (hf_business) - Trade freedom (hf_trade) - Fis ...
hf_financ
The financial freedom factor measures the relative openness of each country's banking and financial system by determining: the extent of government regulation of financial services; the extent of stat ...
hf_fishealth
The score for the fiscal health component is based on two sub-factors, which are weighted as follows in calculating the overall component score: - Average deficits as a percentage of GDP for the ...
hf_govint
Scale from 0 to 100, where 100 indicates very little corruption. Corruption erodes economic freedom by introducing insecurity and uncertainty into economic relationships. The score for this componen ...
hf_govt
Scoring of the freedom from government factor is based on two components: Government expenditure as a percentage of GDP, Revenues generated by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and property as a percenta ...
hf_invest
This factor scrutinizes each country's policies toward foreign investment, as well as its policies toward capital flows internally, in order to determine its overall investment climate. The country's ...
hf_judeffect
The score for the judicial effectiveness component is derived by averaging scores for the following three sub-factors, all of which are weighted equally: - Judicial independence - Quality of the ...
hf_labor
The new labor freedom factor is a quantitative factor based on objective data from the World Bank's Doing Business study. It provides reliable cross-country data on regulations concerning minimum wage ...
hf_monetary
The score for the monetary freedom factor is based on two components: The weighted average inflation rate for the three most recent years, Price controls. The weighted average inflation (WAI) rate for ...
hf_prights
This factor scores the degree to which a country's laws protect private property rights and the degree to which its government enforces those laws. It also accounts for the possibility that private pr ...
hf_taxbur
Tax burden is a composite measure that reflects marginal tax rates on both personal and corporate income and the overall level of taxation (including direct and indirect taxes imposed by all levels of ...
hf_trade
The trade freedom score is based on two inputs: The trade-weighted average tariff rate, Non-tariff barriers (NTBs). Weighted average tariffs is a purely quantitative measure and accounts for the basic ...