Canada falls nine places in global economic freedom ranking

Canada has experienced a significant drop in economic freedom, falling from 9th to 18th place in the Fraser Institute’s latest global ranking. The Economic Freedom of the World 2026 report, released on October 6, highlights this decline using 2024 data. The index evaluates countries across five key areas: size of government, legal system and property rights, sound money, freedom to trade internationally, and regulation.

The report identifies three areas where Canada’s performance worsened: freedom to trade internationally, regulation, and size of government. Notably, Canada ranked 101st out of 165 countries in the size of government category, a long-standing weak spot. While the legal system and property rights score remained stable, the sound money score improved slightly as inflation eased in 2024.

Matthew Mitchell, senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and co-author of the report, warned that reduced economic freedom could negatively impact Canadians' living standards. The report also compared global economic outcomes, revealing that per-person GDP averaged US$65,596 in the most economically free 25% of countries, compared to US$9,552 in the least-free 25%. Extreme poverty and life expectancy also showed stark differences between these groups.

Canada now ranks behind major economies like the United States (5th), the United Kingdom (10th), and Japan (13th), though it remains ahead of Germany (19th). The top ten freest economies include Hong Kong, Switzerland, Singapore, and New Zealand, while the least-free economies include Venezuela, Zimbabwe, and Sudan.