State of World Liberty Index

The State of World Liberty Index was a ranking of countries according to the degree of economic and personal freedoms that their citizens enjoy. It was a compilation of several similar indices created by other organizations. The index's original author Nick Wilson defined freedom as "the ability for the individual to live their lives as they choose, as long as they do not infringe on the rights of others to do the same."

Only one report (the 2006 State of World Liberty Index, released 12 August 2006) was produced by the State of World Liberty Project and the original website is now defunct. However, Patrick Rhamey, professor in the Department of International Studies at the Virginia Military Institute [1], has updated the rankings through 2015 using the same concept, with some adjustments to the original method [2].

The index has been cited by human rights organisations,[3] governments,[4] pro-democracy groups,[5] [6] news organisations,[7] [8] [9] and others.[10] [11] [12]

The 2006 State of World Liberty Index was created by combining the rankings of four other indexes of world liberty into one: the "2005 Economic Freedom of the World" Index (Fraser Institute/Cato Institute), the "2006 Index of Economic Freedom" (The Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal), the "2005 Freedom in the World" index (Freedom House), and the "2005 Press Freedom Index" (Reporters Without Borders).

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