Switzerland is the world champion of… “human freedom”
The “Human Freedom Index 2021” measured 165 countries, through 82 different personal and economic indicators, and recorded Switzerland’s supremacy
How is it possible to measure the degree of freedom of a people, of a nation, of a state as well as of the individuals who, individually and collectively, live within its borders?
The study “The Human Freedom Index 2021 – A Global Measurement of Personal, Civil, and Economic Freedom”, elaborated by Ian Vásquez, Fred McMahon, Ryan Murphy and Guillermina Sutter Schneider and published at the end of the year by a U.S.-Canadian association formed by the Cato Institute in Washington and the Fraser Institute in Vancouver, tries to give an answer to this challenging question.
Switzerland and the “fantastic four” of direct democracy
The HFI is the most comprehensive freedom index to date created for a globally significant set of countries and jurisdictions, representing 98.1 percent of the world’s population.
The “Human Freedom Index 2021” covers 165 state entities for 2019, the most recent year for which sufficient data is available. The index ranks nearly every jurisdiction on the planet since 2008, the first year for which a fairly robust index could be produced.
This seventh edition of the annual index uses 82 separate indicators of personal and economic freedom in the following areas: rule of law; safety and security; mobility; religion; association, assembly, and civil society; expression and information; relationships; size of government and public administration; legal system and property rights; sound money; freedom of international trade; and regulation.
The Ethics of Competitiveness and the Spirit of Federalism
On a scale of zero to ten, the average “human freedom” “is worth “7.2
On a scale of zero to 10, where ten represents the highest degree of freedom, the average “human freedom” rating for 165 jurisdictions in 2019 was 7.12.
Among the 162 jurisdictions for which data exist for 2018 and 2019, the overall level of freedom (weighting all states equally) was unchanged, with 82 countries decreasing their performance and 67 improving.
Comparing all nations for which we have the same data available since 2008, the overall level of freedom declined slightly (-0.01), with more jurisdictions in the overall index experiencing a decline in their rating (71) than those that increased it (67).
Waldstätte and the “forest” cantons at the dawn of the Swiss…
83 percent of global population has less freedom since 2008
By the same measure, 83 percent of the global population lives in jurisdictions that have seen a decline in human freedom since 2008.
This includes decreases in overall freedom in the world’s 10 most populous countries. Only 17 percent of the global population lives in states that have seen an increase in freedom during the same time frame.
The data show that there is an unequal distribution of freedom around the world, with just 14.6 percent of the world’s population living in the top quartile of jurisdictions in the “Human Freedom Index 2021” and 40.3 percent living in the bottom quartile.
The gap in human freedom between the freest and least free jurisdictions has widened since 2008, increasing by 6.6 percent when comparing the top and bottom quartiles of nations in the HFI.
Athenian democracy? Revive between Glarus and Appenzell….
New Zealand, Denmark, Estonia and Ireland at the top with Bern
The countries that occupied the top 10 places, in order, were Switzerland, New Zealand, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Canada and Finland (tied at 6), Australia, Sweden and Luxembourg.
The most interesting jurisdictions ranked as follows: United Kingdom (14), Germany, Japan and the United States (tied at 15), Taiwan (19), Italy (26), Chile (28), Hong Kong (30), South Korea (31), France (34), Argentina (74), South Africa (77), Brazil (78), Mexico (93), India (119), Nigeria (123), Russia (126), Turkey (139), China (150), Saudi Arabia (155), Iran (160), Venezuela (164) and Syria (165).
The Europe of small states and a barely sketched federalism…
Middle East, Middle Africa and South Asia the worst regions
Of the 10 world regions into which the planet has been divided, those with the highest levels of freedom are North America (Canada and the United States), Western Europe and Oceania. The lowest levels are in the Middle East, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Women’s specific freedoms, as measured by five index indicators, are strongest in North America, Western Europe, and East Asia and are least protected in the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Presidency of the Swiss Confederation from 1848 to the present day
Jurisdictions in the first quartile have an income of $ 48,748
Jurisdictions in the first quartile of freedom enjoy a significantly higher average per capita income ($48,748) than those in the other quartiles; the average per capita income in the least free quartile is $11,259. The HFI also finds a strong relationship between human freedom and democracy.
This year’s report is the product of a top-down review that resulted in methodological improvements and the use of new variables and sources in addition to or in place of those previously used for what authors Ian Vásquez, Fred McMahon, Ryan Murphy and Guillermina Sutter Schneider believe is a more rigorous and robust index.
The results of the “Human Freedom Index 2021” suggest that freedom plays an important role in human well-being and offer opportunities for further research into the complex ways in which freedom influences, and can be influenced by, political regimes, economic development, and the full range of human well-being indicators.
More Federalism Means Higher Gross Domestic Product
