Slovakia Ranks 43rd in Fraser Institute's Global Ranking of Economic Freedom

Bratislava, 11 October (TASR) - In the latest Fraser Institute's Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) index, Slovakia ranked 43rd out of 165 countries with an overall score of 7.45, lagging behind the Czech Republic and Austria, the Institute of Freedom and Entrepreneurship (ISP) reported earlier this week. ISP is the Slovak partner of Canada's Fraser Institute, which prepared the index. The current ranking is based on data from 2024. ISP chair Jan Oravec pointed out that across the five areas evaluated by the index, Slovakia performed strongest in freedom to trade internationally (27th place) and sound money (38th place). "The fact that Slovakia uses the euro automatically gives us a better rating than Hungary and Poland," he noted. Slovakia's legal system also scores above the global average (37th), whereas its weakest areas are size of government (108th) and regulation (90th place). President of the Slovak Business Alliance (PAS) Monika Nadova Kroslakova expects Slovakia's ranking to drop further in the coming years, pointing to the administrative burden placed on entrepreneurs. "When an entrepreneur is deciding whether to enter the market or expand their business, this is the area they look at," she said, adding that predictable business conditions also have economic value for entrepreneurs, while Slovakia is lagging behind in this area as well. Hong Kong has long topped the rankings and currently has a score of 8.53, although this has fallen sharply since 2018. It's followed by Switzerland (8.45), Singapore (8.43), New Zealand (8.38) and the United States (8.21). At the bottom of the rankings are Venezuela (2.94), Zimbabwe (3.62), Sudan (4.16) and Libya (4.29). Among EU-member states, the countries with the highest levels of economic freedom are Ireland (8.16), Denmark (8.13) and Finland (7.96). According to the study, people in countries with the highest levels of economic freedom earn around seven times more, live 14 years longer and experience significantly lower rates of poverty and infant mortality than those in the least free countries. In addition to higher incomes and a better environment, economic freedom also gives them more leisure time and greater overall contentment. jrg/df