Human Freedom Index 2023: Argentina and Hong Kong see freedom index ratings plummet

The world index defines freedom as the “absence of coercive constraint”

Hong Kong and Argentina have seen the biggest drops in freedoms for their citizens – and look set to continue the trend, an annual index of freedom around the world has warned.

The Human Freedom Index 2023, created annually by North American think-tanks the Cato Institute and the Fraser Institute, found Switzerland once again topped the index for 2021 data – when citizens of the vast majority of countries in the world saw freedoms reduced due to the Covid pandemic.

The index defines freedom “as the absence of coercive constraint”. A total of 86 different factors which affect freedom are analysed, including rule of law; security and safety; movement; religion; association, assembly, and civil society; expression and information and relationships.

This shows traditional mud-brick houses known as 'beehive houses' in the village of Umm Amuda al-Kabira in Aleppo's eastern countryside, north of Damascus, Syria. Syria has been ranked the country at the bottom of the Human Freedom Index.

The countries ranked in the top ten after Switzerland were New Zealand, Denmark, Ireland, Estonia and Sweden – which tied in fifth place – followed by Iceland, Luxembourg, Finland and Norway. The United Kingdom was ranked 17th, three places higher than the previous year and tied with the US.

Civil war-hit Syria was named as the country with the least freedoms, followed by Yemen, Sudan, Myanmar and Iran.

The report said human freedom had “deteriorated sharply” in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. On a scale of zero to ten, where ten represents more freedom, the average human freedom rating for the 165 jurisdictions in the index fell from 6.99 in 2019 to 6.75 in 2021.

Most areas of freedom fell, the study said, including significant declines in the rule of law and freedom of movement, expression and trade. After having fallen significantly in 2020, human freedom remained low during the second year of the pandemic.

The report said: “There can be no doubt that the coronavirus pandemic was calamitous for overall human freedom. The key question in future years is whether governments will fully reverse Covid-related restrictions on freedom as the pandemic moderates or whether some will continue to exert the additional control and spending power they have appropriated to themselves during the pandemic.”

The document also warned the sharp decline in freedom that began in 2020 comes after years of slow descent, following a high point in 2007 – and sets global freedom to a level far below what it was in 2000, previously the lowest point in the past two decades.

Switzerland scored highly on almost all aspects of freedoms, scoring full marks of ten for freedom in all aspects of relationships – as did Estonia, which also scored highly on press freedoms.

The index said the data showed there was an unequal distribution of freedom in the world, with only 13.8 per cent of the world’s population living in the top quartile of jurisdictions in the index and 37.6 per cent living in the bottom quartile.

By region, North America and Western Europe topped the table. The study found jurisdictions in the top quartile of freedom enjoy a significantly higher average per capita income – £37,315 – than those in other quartiles. The average per capita income in the least free quartile is £11,140.

The authors of the index said there was a strong relationship between human freedom and democracy.

"Economic freedom decreases the dependence of individuals on government or other potential forces in society that would restrict liberty or attempt to centralise power,” the report said.

Ian Vasquez, co-author of the report, pointed to the drop in levels of freedom in Hong Kong. In the past decade and a half, only two other jurisdictions – Nicaragua and Syria – have lost more freedom than Hong Kong. As recently as 2010, Hong Kong held third place, but has now plummeted to 46 in the rankings, with pronounced declines in the rule of law, freedom of expression, and freedom of association and assembly.

Hong Kong, which is officially part of China since the handover from Britain in 1997, is meant to enjoy more freedoms than mainland China. However, human rights groups have warned these freedoms have been eroded in recent years.

In July 2020, China imposed a national security law on Hong Kong, which allows it to take action against anyone it believes could be deemed a threat to its “national security”.

This week, former Apple Daily editor Jimmy Lai went on trial in Hong Kong. Mr Lai, 76, who is already serving concurrent sentences on charges of attending “unauthorised” pro-democracy protests and allegations of fraud, faces three charges of “foreign collusion” along with a separate charge of “sedition”.

Mr Vasquez said: "As my co-authors and I note, the contest between liberty and power has been ongoing for millennia. The tragic loss of freedom in Hong Kong – symbolised by the sham trial of Jimmy Lai that began there this week – is a dramatic example. As part of its crackdown on the traditional liberties of the territory, the Chinese regime has jailed the dissident billionaire for having advocated in favour of free expression and other basic rights.”

Argentina, which has struggled with its economic situation in recent years and which recently voted in right-wing politician Javier Milei as its new president, also saw a marked drop in freedoms in 2021. Mr Milei has warned of economic "shock treatment" for Argentina and has already moved to weaken the value of Argentinian currency, the Peso, by more than 50 per cent against the US dollar in a bid to stave off hyperinflation – and announced deep cuts to public spending

Mr Vasquez said: “Over the past ten years of mostly populist‐​Peronist rule, Argentina’s level of freedom steadily declined, and its ranking fell from 41 in 2000 to 77 in the current report. But it was in terms of economic freedom that the country saw a complete collapse, falling from a ranking of 40th in 2000 to 158th in the new index.”