Canada ranked 12th ‘freest’ country amid global decline in human freedom: think tank

A sailboat with a Canada flag-themed sail is seen in Halifax Harbour during Canada Day festivities in Halifax on Saturday, July 1, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese

A conservative Canadian think tank ranked Canada as the twelfth “freest” country in the world based on a global index that measures human freedoms, while claiming that freedom has declined for the vast majority of the world’s population in recent years.

The Fraser Institute, jointly with the U.S.-based Cato Institute, released its annual Human Freedom Index on Tuesday, which found that nearly 90 per cent of people across the world had less freedom in 2023 – the latest year for which data was available – than they did in 2019.

“Governments around the world have recently been restricting freedom of expression, freedom of association and assembly, freedom of movement, and the freedom to use sound money,” Matthew D. Mitchell, a Fraser Institute senior fellow and the report’s co-author, said in a press release.

“The impact is alarming.”

The institute said its index measures the degree to which individuals are free to make their own personal and economic choices by using 87 indicators across different categories including the rule of law, safety and security, and freedom of speech, assembly and religion.

Out of 165 jurisdictions, Canada ranked twelfth based on data from 2023. Canada’s position was unchanged from the year before, according to the institute. However, its overall freedom score dropped by 0.03.

The U.S. also retained its most recent ranking of fifteenth, while its freedom score dropped by 0.04 compared to data collected in 2022.

Switzerland, which according to the Fraser Institute has been the freest country in the world for a number of years, again found itself at the top of the list, while maintaining the same freedom score as last year’s rankings.

Meanwhile, Denmark overtook New Zealand for the second spot, as Ireland and Luxembourg maintained their rankings of fourth and fifth freest countries in the world, respectively. The institute found that all four posted declines in freedom scores compared to last year’s index.

The world’s least free jurisdiction, according to the index, is Syria, followed by Iran, Yemen, Sudan and Myanmar, though in the case of Iran and Sudan, their freedom rankings rose based on 2023 data compared to a year earlier. The other three countries saw their scores decrease.

The institute said that the recent overall decline in freedoms was seen across the board in all corners of the world, affecting both “rich and poor countries, and democracies and nondemocracies.”

The Fraser Institute said it’s important to consistently monitor the amount of freedom that humans are afforded in different places, as people in freer countries tend to have better overall outcomes and lead wealthier, healthier and more satisfying lives.

“Many contend that freedom is valuable as an end to itself,” Mitchell said in the release, “but it also makes life better.”

The top 20 countries are as follows:

1. Switzerland
2. Denmark
3. New Zealand
4. Ireland
5. Luxembourg
6. Estonia
7. Finland
8. Czechia
9. Netherlands
10. Australia
11. Iceland
12. Canada
13. Sweden
14. Taiwan
15. United States
16. Norway
17. Germany
18. Portugal
19. Japan
20. United Kingdom