New Zealand, United States and Mauritius, a tiny island nation off the coast of Africa, rounded out the top five. Switzerland, United Kingdom, Thailand and Costa Rica occupied spots six through nine. People mistakenly stress the importance of democracy as key to economic progress. While economic and political freedom are both parts of personal liberty but there are fundamental distinctions. These are the core elements of economic freedom.
Civil liberty has to do with rights to assemble, free speech, fair trials, and religious freedom.
Recognizing these distinctions, we can see how a county like Singapore can have little political and civil liberties yet have top ranking in economic freedom. On the other hand, democracies like Israel and India have considerable political freedom and civil liberties but have high levels of government intervention and control that restrict economic freedom. It's the same story with growth rates. The freest economies grew at 2.9 percent while most of the countries in the least free category experienced negative growth rates. There is no question about a positive correlation between economic freedom and higher standards of living.