Korea Ranked 45th in the Index of Economic Freedom

Korea ranked at 45th among 161 countries in the Economic Freedom Index, one notch up from last year’s 46th.

In “The 2005 Index of Economic Freedom (IEF)” that The Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal jointly released on January 4, Hong Kong topped the list for the 11th consecutive year, followed by Singapore, Luxemburg, and Estonia.

Ireland shared fifth place with New Zealand. The U.K. (seventh), Denmark (eighth), Iceland (ninth), and Australia (10th) were among the top 10 countries.

Korea ranked 45th with Slovenia, while North Korea ranked at the bottom with Myanmar. Taiwan and Japan took 27th and 39th places, respectively, and China jumped to 112th from 128th of last year.

The index was calculated based on 10 items, including the level of openness of the country’s trade policy, the level of governmental regulation, and the size of the underground economy.

Wall Street Journal evaluated that Estonia, a former Soviet satellite country, jumped to fourth place, showing rapid progress in economic reform.

Seung-Ryun Kim srkim@donga.com