India Improves Economic Freedom Index Ranking, Placed at 96th Spot

India is more economically free today than the previous year. At an Economic Freedom Index the country has been placed at the 96^th position, an improvement when compared to the previous ranking of 98. The report was released by the Centre for Civil Society in association with Canada’s Fraser Institute. Incidentally, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation has put India at the 158^th position for investment in human capital which includes education attainment and health care.

While the Economic Freedom Index was based on five major parameters — size of government, legal system and property rights, inflation and money growth, foreign trade and market regulation — the Human Capital index was based on the number of productive years an individual in each country can be expected to work between the ages of 20 to 64, taking into account years of schooling, learning in school, and functional health.

The highs and lows

India has improved its score in the legal system and property rights which includes judicial independence, legal enforcement of contracts, regulatory restrictions but has deteriorated in size of the government which stands for tax rates, government investment, subsidies, etc. There is a marginal improvement in freedom to trade internationally and market regulation category as well, shows the Economic Freedom Index.

Countries with high rankings of economic freedom are believed to have happier and healthier population. Hong Kong and Singapore have got top spots in the index. New Zealand, Switzerland, Ireland, the US, Georgia, Mauritius, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada (tied for 10th) were among the top-10 countries.