However, no country is perfect including New Zealand. We also know that not only do Americans sing about their “free land” in their anthem, in fact, so do we. We know that by international standards New Zealanders live in a stable democracy, with a decent education system, largely untroubled by corruption or violent crime, and with a healthy civil society. New Zealanders, on the other hand, would have probably been less surprised. Americans were miffed to find out that they were not living in the greatest country in the world and that this title belonged to a small, isolated nation in the South Pacific to us.
The study made some international headlines, particularly in the US. Taken together, the researchers have come to the conclusion that there is no freer country than New Zealand.
It is particularly good because unlike previous indices measuring only economic freedom, the new human freedom index measures both: the freedom to work and do business but also social freedoms, such as personal safety, freedom of expression, and other civil liberties. In any case, an index in which Europe’s economic powerhouse Germany (35th) is eclipsed by the likes of Costa Rica (20th), Malta (27th) and Mauritius (30th) probably does not quite reflect the full picture of a country’s attractiveness.ĭespite this caveat, New Zealand’s first place ranking is still great news. Such individual comparisons show that wide-ranging freedom surveys always have to be taken with a pinch of salt. The UK (8th) ranks behind the Baltic republic of Estonia (10th) Albania (24th) beats France (33rd) and rather bizarrely Russia (89th) is judged more free than Israel (105th). The results of other developed nations are even worse.
New Zealand leads the world in human freedom, followed by the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Australia, and Canada. However, our US friends have to be very brave indeed because there is now a better land of the free: New Zealand.Īccording to a joint study by the Canadian Fraser Institute and German think tank Liberales Institut. “The land of the free and the home of the brave” is a famous line in the American national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner.
Published in National Business Review (Auckland), 25 January 2013
0 kommentar(er)
