Human Freedom Index, 2020

The Human Freedom Index 2020 which is a global ranking of civil, economic and personal freedom was released recently by American think tank Cato Institute and Fraser Institute in Canada. The index has ranked 162 countries based on 76 indicators of personal, civil, and economic freedoms.

India’s rank

• India has been ranked at 111th position.
• India has dropped down by 17 position from its earlier position in 2019.
• India has scored 6.43.
• This score by India is lower than the average human freedom rating of 6.93 other countries.
• Personal freedom in India has been scored as 6.30.
• The report has scored the economic freedom of India as 6.56.

Other countries ranking

• India has been ranked above its neighbour countries.
• Pakistan has been ranked at 140^th
• Index has ranked Bangladesh at 139^th
• China and Bhutan have been ranked at 129^th and 108^th position respectively.
• Sri Lanka has got 94^th spot while Nepal has got 92^nd
• The top 10 countries are New Zealand, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Denmark, Australia, Canada, Ireland and Estonia.
• Germany and Sweden tied at 9^th
• Japan ranked 11^th.
• UK and the US were grouped at 17th spot.
• The worst performing countries are Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Venezuela and Iran.

About the Index

The index has been prepared using 76 indicators of personal and economic freedom. The indicators include the areas like rule of law, security and safety, legal system, religion, property rights and access to sound money.

India’s performance in other ranking

India has also been downgraded in several indices. In April 2020, India was ranked at 142^nd position in the Press Freedom Index. India’s global economic freedom index was also downgraded by 26 spots. India also scored low indices on academic freedom and internet freedom.