A trio of major surveys assessing the state of civil, political and economic freedom across the world have recently been released.The 3 surveys are Freedom House’s “Freedom in the World 2010: Erosion of Freedom Intensifies“; Reporters without Borders’ “Press Freedom Index 2010“; and the Heritage Foundation’s “ The Link Between Economic Opportunity and Prosperity: The 2010 Index of Economic Freedom“.

“Freedom in the World 2010”  is an annual survey conducted by Freedom House to assess political rights and civil liberties around the world. The report notes a steady decline in the state of global freedom. Freedom House has described 2009 as a year “marked by intensified repression against human rights defenders and democracy activists by many of the world’s most powerful authoritarian regimes, including Russia and China.”  In the “Press Freedom Index 2010,” while fourteen European states received very low rankings, twenty, led by Finland, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland were singled out as “engines of press freedom.” The report states that traditional underperformers, such as Rwanda, Yemen, Syria, Burma, and North Korea, have all taken “harsher lines” against press freedoms over the last year as well.

The “2010 Index of Economic Freedom,” compiled by the Heritage Foundation, assesses the level of overall economic freedom in 183 countries by ranking ten dimensions including business freedom, trade freedom, fiscal freedom, government spending, monetary freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom, property rights, freedom from corruption and labor freedom. These dimensions measure factors which include regulatory barriers to doing business, regulatory efficiency, rule of law, levels of corruption, and economic openness. The 2010 Index ranks Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand as first, second, third and fourth, respectively, in the world. Heritage found only seven global economies to be “free” with the United States dropping out of the group of free economies this year and Switzerland joining it.