NZ 5th for economic freedom

The Heritage Foundation has released the 2014 economic freedom index. The top 10 are:

1. Hong Kong 90.1 (+0.8)
2. Singapore 78.4 (+1.4)
3. Australia 82.0 (-0.6)
4. Switzerland 81.6 (+0.6)
5. New Zealand 81.2 (-0.2)
6. Canada 80.2 (+0.8)
7. Chile 78.7 (-0.3)
8. Mauritius 76.5 (-0.4)
9. Ireland 76.2 (+0.5)
10. Denmark 76.1 (nc)

Only six countries are ranked free (above 80), 27 are mainly free (70 – 80), 56 moderately free (60 to 70), 61 mostly unfree (50 to 60) and 27 repressed (under 50).

The bottom five are:

1. North Korea 1.0
2. Cuba 28.7
3. Zimbabwe 35.5
4. Venezuela 36.3
5. Eritrea 38.5

NZ’s rankings are below

Read more about New Zealand Economy.
See more from the 2014 Index.

The level of government spending is the only area in which we score really badly. They state:

The overall tax burden equals 31.7 percent of gross domestic income. Government spending equates to about 47.5 percent of GDP, and public debt is steady at 38 percent of GDP.

All need to drop down.