Nepal climbs five spots in economic freedom; ranks 102nd among 162 jurisdictions

Kathmandu / Sept 23: Nepal has ranked 102nd out of 162 countries and territories included in the Economic Freedom of the World: 2018 Annual Report. Last year, Nepal ranked 107th. According to research in top peer-reviewed academic journals, people living in countries with high levels of economic freedom enjoy greater prosperity, more political and civil liberties, and longer lives.

With an overall score of 6.53 (in a scale of 1 to 10 where a higher value indicates a higher level of economic freedom), Nepal ranked 102nd out of 162 jurisdictions in this year’s index. With this, Nepal has climbed five notches up in the global ranking. Last year, Nepal ranked 107th out of 159 jurisdictions with a score of 6.50. The year before, Nepal had ranked 108th out of 157 jurisdictions with a score of 6.45.

Of the 24 sub-indicators within these five indicators studied in the report, Nepal climbed up in seven, slid below in five and maintained its last year’s position on 12.

Hong Kong and Singapore again top the index, continuing their streak as 1st and 2ndrespectively. New Zealand, Switzerland, Ireland, the United States, Georgia, Mauritius, theUnited Kingdom, Australia and Canada (tied for 10th ) round out the top 10.

The 10 lowest-ranked countries are Sudan, Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Syria, Algeria, Argentina, Libya and last-place Venezuela. Some despotic countries such as North Korea and Cuba can’t be ranked due to lack of data.

Other notable countries include Germany (20th), Japan (41st), France (57th), Russia (87th), India (96th) and China (108th). Courtesy : Myrepublica