Photo credit: CTV News
A conservative Canadian think tank has ranked Canada as the twelfth “freest” country in the world based on a global index that measures human freedoms, while claiming that freedom has declined for the vast majority of the world’s population in recent years.
CTV News reports that the Fraser Institute, jointly with the US-based Cato Institute, released its annual Human Freedom Index on Tuesday, which found that nearly 90 per cent of people across the world had less freedom in 2023 – the latest year for which data was available – than they did in 2019.
“Governments around the world have recently been restricting freedom of expression, freedom of association and assembly, freedom of movement, and the freedom to use sound money,” Matthew D Mitchell, a Fraser Institute senior fellow and the report’s co-author, said.
“The impact is alarming.”
According to the institute, its index measures the degree to which individuals are free to make their own personal and economic choices by using 87 indicators across different categories, including the rule of law, safety and security, and freedom of speech, assembly and religion.
Out of 165 jurisdictions, Canada ranked twelfth based on data from 2023. Canafa’s position was unchanged from the year before, according to the institute. However, its overall freedom score dropped by 0.03.
The US also retained its most recent ranking of fifteenth, while its freedom score dropped by 0.04 compared to data collected in 2022.
Switzerland, which, according to the Fraser Institute, has been the freest country in the world for several years, again found itself at the top of the list, while maintaining the same freedom score as last year’s rankings.
Denmark overtook New Zealand for the second spot, as Ireland and Luxembourg maintained their rankings of fourth and fifth positions, respectively. The institute found that all four posted declines in freedom scores compared to last year’s index.
The world’s least free jurisdiction, according to the index, is Syria, followed by Iran, Yemen, Sudan and Myanmar, though in the case of Iran and Sudan, their freedom rankings rose based on 2023 data compared to a year earlier. The other three countries saw their scores decrease.
The institute said that the recent overall decline in freedoms was seen across the board in all corners of the world, affecting both “rich and poor countries, and democracies and nondemocracies.”
The Fraser Institute said it’s important to consistently monitor the amount of freedom that humans are afforded in different places, as people in freer countries tend to have better overall outcomes and lead wealthier, healthier and more satisfying lives.
Mitchell said, “Many contend that freedom is valuable as an end to itself, but it also makes life better.”
