Canada is freer than the US: Fraser Institute

Northern Europe, North America, and Western Europe were found to have the most amount of freedom.

A new study suggests Canada ranks sixth out of 152 countries when it comes to human freedom while its southern neighbour, the U.S., is 20th.

The Human Freedom Index claims to be a resource “that can help to more objectively observe relationships between freedom and other social and economic phenomena, as well as the ways in which the various dimensions of freedom interact with one another”.

Hong Kong ranked the highest in the index, followed by Switzerland, Finland, Denmark, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Sweden rounding out the top 10.

The report is co-published by the Cato Institute, the Fraser Institute, and the Liberales Institut at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom. It some countries, like the United States, unfortunately, it has regressed.

“Belonging to the top 38 or so freest countries in the world greatly improves the average person’s income”, it added.

The amount of freedom in a nation has a strong correlation with economic prosperity and human well-being.

“Clearly, the pro-democracy protests represent a political agenda not acceptable to Beijing, and are a reaction to interference and perceived interference by mainland China in Hong Kong’s policies and institutions”, the report says.

The index places countries like Chile, Malta and Mauritius ahead of the United States. In fact, it could be said that freedom is nearly a necessary condition for economic growth.

“The decline reflects a long-term drop in every category of economic freedom and in its rule of law indicators”.

As for the United States coming in at No. 20, McMahon says the data points to a “significant weakening of the rule of law” and an erosion of property rights and “an expansion of quasi-judicial regulations” over time.