TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan is listed as the freest country in Asia in the 2023 Human Freedom Index (HFI).

The U.S.-based Cato Institute and Canada’s Fraser Institute on Tuesday (Dec.19) released the HFI for 2023. Among the 165 jurisdictions covered in the report, Taiwan was ranked 12th in the world and the freest in Asia, while China came in at 149th.

The report indicates that following the widespread outbreak of the COVID pandemic, human freedoms have "deteriorated severely." It said the rule of law; freedom of movement, expression, association, and assembly; and freedom of trade saw "significant declines."

The average index of human freedom has slightly decreased from 6.79 in 2020 to 6.75 in 2021, the last year for which adequate data is available, reflecting a decline in human freedom from 2019 to 2021. Overall, the report said 89.8% of the world saw a drop in human freedom from 2019 to 2021.

Switzerland once again retained the title of the country with the highest HFI, followed by New Zealand, Denmark, and Ireland, while Estonia and Sweden tied for 5th place. Iceland came in 7th, followed by Luxembourg, Finland, and Norway, rounding out the top 10.

Taiwan ranked 12th in the world and the highest in Asia, followed most closely by Japan at 16th and South Korea at 28th. China ranked 149th, while the lowest-rated country was Syria.

On a scale of 1 to 10, Taiwan received a score of 8.98 for personal freedom, 7.97 for economic freedom, and 8.56 for human freedom. Taiwan ranked even higher for economic freedom at 11th in the world with a score of 7.97.

In its personal freedom ratings, Taiwan received an 8 for the rule of law, 9.6 for security and safety, 8 for movement, 9.9 for religion, 9.4 for association, assembly, and civil society, 8.7 for expression and information, and 9.4 for relationships. Taiwan received a 10 for freedom of assembly, direct attacks on the press, media expression, same-sex relationships, divorce, and female genital mutilation.

As for economic freedom, Taiwan received a 7.7 for size of government, 7.3 for legal system and property rights, 9.6 for sound money, 7.6 for freedom to trade internationally, and 7.7 for regulation. Among these ratings, Taiwan received a 10 for foreign currency bank accounts and black-market exchange rates.

Regarding regions, the highest levels of freedom are in North America, Western Europe, and Oceania, while the lowest are in the Middle East and North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia.

The Human Freedom Index presents the state of human freedom worldwide based on a broad measure that includes personal, civil, and economic freedom. Human freedom is a social concept that recognizes the dignity of individuals and is defined as "negative liberty or the absence of coercive constraint," and covers 98.8% of the world's population.

The 2023 Human Freedom Index is based on 2021 data as this is the latest year for which sufficient data are available and covers 165 jurisdictions.

The 2023 Human Freedom Index uses 86 different indicators of personal and economic freedom for evaluation in the areas of rule of law; security and safety; movement; religion; association, assembly, and civil society; expression and information; relationships; size of government; legal system and property rights; sound money; freedom to trade internationally; and regulation.