About the Center

The Freedom and Prosperity Center aims to increase the well-being of people everywhere and especially that of the poor and marginalized in developing countries through unbiased, data-based research on the relationship between prosperity and economic, political, and legal freedoms, in support of sound policy choices.

The Center analyzes some of the defining questions of our time and of all time. Do countries need freedom to achieve prosperity? Do democracies or autocracies have the better answers to the aspirations of the peoples of the world? What about countries that are not electoral democracies in the Western sense, but have high levels of economic and legal freedoms and leaders who appear to enjoy a high level of legitimacy among their citizens?

Central to answering these questions are the Freedom and Prosperity Indexes. The indexes measure the freedom and prosperity, respectively, of nearly every country in the world.

Stay Updated

Get the latest program developments, reports & research, and events.

Interactive Indexes Website

The indexes rank 164 countries around the world according to their levels of freedom and prosperity. Use our award-winning site to explore 28 years of data, compare countries and regions, and examine the sub-indexes and indicators that comprise our indexes.

Annual Report

The Path to Prosperity The 2024 Freedom and Prosperity Indexes

In this “year of election,” freedom continues to decline globally. Political rights, judicial independence, and checks and balances are eroding. Prosperity growth has slowed, particularly in developing countries. The data underscores a strong link between freedom and prosperity, highlighting the need for data-driven policy reforms.

2024 Atlas: Freedom and Prosperity Around the World

Twenty leading economists and government officials from eighteen countries contributed to this comprehensive volume, which serves as a roadmap for navigating the complexities of contemporary governance. 

2023: The Freedom and Prosperity Equation

Thirty scholars and political leaders from twelve countries have contributed seventeen essays to this volume. They make the case that durable prosperity is achieved in countries with economic, political, and legal freedom.

False Promises: The authoritarian development models of Russia and China

Are authoritarian regimes more successful than free countries in offering prosperity to their people? The answer is decidedly no, yet China and Russia advertise the “benefits” and “promise” of their development models. This paper showcases why and how the authoritarian development model is inferior to that of free societies.

Video

Watch and share the video on YouTube.

Annual Research Conference

Commentary and Analysis

Featured Media

Dive into the global evolution of women’s economic freedom, one of the indicators in the Freedom Index. The Center celebrates International Women’s Day by exploring the strides made and the work that lies ahead. Nina Dannaoui breaks down how women’s economic freedom has changed around the world since the 1990s.
The second annual Freedom and Prosperity Research Conference featured showcases from scholars and partners around the globe. Alejandra López de Alba Gómez of the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations discusses how her organization recreated the Prosperity Index for Mexican states and broke down the key takeaways from their findings.
At the second annual Freedom and Prosperity Research Conference, Kelley E. Currie, Johanna Kao, Kotaro Shiojiri, and Kimberly A. Reed convened for a panel discussion on freedom and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific. The panel focused on freedom-based development models and building partnerships among countries in the region.

Events

In the News

Experts

Fellows

Advisory Council

Grant Programs