Georgia is 13th on economic freedom rank

Georgia ranks 13^th on the list of 186 countries analyzed by the 2017 Index of Economic Freedom, having moved 10 places from the last year.

The Index, an annual guide published by the Heritage Foundation, evaluates the world’s economies in four broad policy areas that affect economic freedom: rule of law, limited government, regulatory efficiency and open markets.

Georgia’s scores are reported to have improved in such areas as property rights, government integrity, and business freedom. At the same time, it has performed worse on the criteria of tax burden and government spending.

Also, it could have done better on the side of ensuring a more dynamic labour market and battling unemployment, which remains high at 12%.

The overall score of 76 put Georgia among “mostly free” countries.

Armenia, too, made it into the “mostly free” category, with 70 points (it’s 33^rd on the list). Azerbaijan’s 63 points have placed it among “moderately free” countries (68^th). Russia, with 57 points, ended up in the “mostly unfree” category (114^th), outstripping Ukraine which, with its 48 points, found itself the 166^th among the world’s “repressed” countries.

Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand have been ranked as this year’s freest countries.