DUSHANBE, January 10, 2013, Asia-Plus – The Index of Economic Freedom, created by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal, has listed Tajikistan among “mostly unfree” countries.
Tajikistan with 53.4 scores is ranked 131st among 185 economies.
Among the top five countries are Hong Kong (89.3 scores), Singapore (88.0 scores), Australia (82.6 scores), New Zealand (81.4 scores) and Switzerland (81.4 scores).
Northern Korea with .5 scores is at the bottom of the ranking list.
Armenia with 69.4 scores tops the CIS member nations in terms of economic freedom. It is ranked 38th.
Armenia is followed by Kazakhstan (68th, 63.0 scores), Azerbaijan (88th, 59.7 scores), and Kyrgyzstan (89th, 59.6 scores).
The Russian Federation with 51.1 scores is ranked 139th. Belarus with 48 scores – 154th, Ukraine (46.3 scores) – 161st, Uzbekistan (46.0 scores) – 162nd, and Turkmenistan (42.6 scores) – 169th.
The Heritage Foundation is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. Heritage”s stated mission is to “formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.”
The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, whose policies drew significantly from Heritage”s policy study Mandate for Leadership. Heritage has since continued to have a significant influence in U.S. public policy making, and is considered to be one of the most influential conservative research organizations in the United States. The Index of Economic Freedom is a series of 10 economic measurements created by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. Its stated objective is to measure the degree of economic freedom in the world”s nations. They are divided into “free”, “mostly free”, “moderately free”, “mostly unfree” and “repressed” nations.
The Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal created the Index of Economic Freedom in 1995. According to Heritage, the creators of the Index took an approach similar to Adam Smith”s The Wealth of Nations that “basic institutions that protect the liberty of individuals to pursue their own economic interests result in greater prosperity for the larger society.”
