Freedom by the Numbers

Two of the major indices that count the crumbs of liberty our governments have seen fit to toss us each year were released recently. Local developments notwithstanding, both find that humanity is a little freer now than it was this time last year.

Freedom House's annual Freedom in the World report tracks political and civil liberties, and even has a nifty map showing the global distribution of freedom.

The Economic Freedom of the World report, put out by an international consortium of free-market policy shops, uses a wide variety of metrics to rank 123 countries from most to least economically free. Hong Kong, Singapore, the United States, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom top out the list. At the bottom of the list, we find that judicious government planning has made Guinea-Bissau, Algeria, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Myanmar the paradises on earth they are today.