Heritage Foundation recently published its 31^st edition of the Index of Economic Freedom in which it assessed economic freedom in 176 countries in the year 2024. In detail, the overall index score is calculated based on twelve freedom-related criteria classified under four major categories, and each criterion is graded on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best). The scores of these twelve components of economic freedom, which are calculated based on a number of sub-variables, are equally weighted and averaged to produce an overall economic freedom score for each economy. In this vein, Heritage Foundation commented that the world’s average economic freedom score improved to 59.7 up from 58.6 a year earlier, noting that this score is 2.1 points higher than that recorded at the inception of the index back in 1995. Three countries emerged as “free” (scores above 80), 26 countries as “mostly free” (scores between 70 and 80), 58 countries as “moderately free” (scores between 60 and 70), 60 as “mostly unfree” (scores between 50 and 60), and 29 as “repressed” economies (scores below 50).

More particularly, Singapore topped the list of covered countries in the 2025 Index of Economic Freedom (IEF) with a score of 84.1, followed by Switzerland (score: 83.7) and Ireland (score: 83.1). On a regional basis, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) led the list of countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in the 2025 IEF, scoring 71.6 and ranking 23^rd in the world. The UAE was followed by Qatar (score: 70.2; global rank: 27) and Bahrain (score: 65.6; global rank: 55), only to name a few.

Locally, Lebanon scored 44.1 in the 2025 IEF, compared to a score of 48.3 in 2024, losing 11 positions to rank as the 165^th freest economy in the world and 12^th in the region. The country’s score settled below the global (59.7) and regional (58.6) averages. Lebanon’s economic freedom was categorized as “Repressed” for the fourth consecutive year. Lebanon was only followed by Iran (score: 42.5; global rank: 169) in the MENA region. According to the report, Lebanon saw drops in ten freedom criteria namely property rights, judicial effectiveness, tax burden, fiscal health, business freedom, labor freedom, monetary freedom, trade freedom, investment freedom, and financial freedom which outweighed the improving scores of two criteria namely government integrity and government spending. The report noted that the foundations of Lebanon’s economic freedom have weakened over the last couple of years on the back of political instability and regulatory inefficiency. In details, the report revealed that Lebanon’s top individual and corporate tax rates stood at 25% and 17% respectively, with the tax burden representing 7.3% of GDP.