Freedom drives out poverty

Terry Miller, co-editor of the 2009 Index of Freedom, writes:

The positive correlation between economic freedom and national income is confirmed yet again by this year's data. The freest countries enjoy per capita incomes over 10 times higher than those in countries ranked as "repressed." This year, for the first time, the Index also correlates economic freedom with important societal values like poverty reduction, human development, political freedom and environmental protection. The linkages are robust, with economically freer countries performing significantly better on every indicator of well-being.

The freest 5 nations: Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand.

The least free: North Korea, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Burma, Eritrea.

The US was ranked sixth. I prefer the US to HK and Singapore, as Hong Kong is the exception of China (ranked 132 out of 179), and Singapore also has some important distinctions, such as mandatory military service which includes 2 years of active duty and 2-3 decades in the reserves.