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Personal Freedom Indicator

Description

This indicator measures freedom of expression and belief, associational and organizational rights, rule of law and human rights, personal autonomy, individual and economic rights, and the independence of the judiciary.

Countries are rated on the following factors:

  • freedom of expression, religious institutions and expression, and academia;
  • freedom of assembly and demonstration, and of political organization and professional organization;
  • independence of the media and the judiciary;
  • freedom from economic exploitation;
  • protection from undue use of force, unjustified imprisonment, exile, and torture;
  • the existence of rule of law, personal property rights, and equal treatment under the law;
  • freedom from indoctrination and excessive dependency on the state;
  • equality of opportunity;
  • freedom to choose where to travel, reside, and work;
  • judicial and legislative restraints on the executive;
  • protection from domestic violence; and
  • the existence of a legal framework to grant asylum or refugee status in accordance with international and regional conventions and system for refugee protection.

Relationship to Economic Growth

Personal freedom is a key component of economic growth.10 Studies show that an expansion of freedom and liberty can promote economic growth by reducing social conflict, removing legal impediments to participation in the economy, encouraging adherence to the rule of law, enhancing protection of property rights, increasing economic rates of return on government projects, and reducing the risk of project failure.11 Additional research has shown that personal freedoms have a positive effect on domestic investment and productivity, increase the success of investments by international actors, enhance economic freedoms, and can bolster growth through the freedom of mobility for individuals.12

Methodology

Indicator Institution Methodology

A country’s score on this indicator is the normalized estimate for the Voice and Accountability indicator from the World Bank’s WGI dataset. This indicator is an aggregate of other indicators measuring personal freedom. It captures freedom of expression, the perception of the extent to which citizens can participate in selecting their government, freedom of association and a free media. The index uses a subset of 22 sources for each country. This indicator is sourced from the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) from the World Bank/Brookings Institution, http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi.

MCC Methodology

MCC has historically used the absolute threshold of 25 to determine whether countries are passing this indicator. The Voice and Accountability scale ranges from around a -2.5 to 2.5. In order to maintain this threshold, MCC normalizes Voice and Accountability using the following equation to create the Personal Freedom indicator: Normalized Voice and Accountability = (16.16412)(Voice and Accountability) + 37.23711. 13 This means that a score of 1 on Voice and Accountability would equal a score of 53 on Personal Freedom. Values are from the 2024 WGI report reflecting the world of 2023.