Taiwan's freedom, prosperity indexes rise in annual international report

Washington, July 15 (CNA) Taiwan has moved up in the Atlantic Council's 2026 Freedom and Prosperity Indexes, with its prosperity ranking jumping nine places from a year earlier, according to the latest report released Wednesday by the Washington-based think tank.

Taiwan ranked 21st in the freedom index and 19th in the prosperity index among the 171 countries assessed, with both rankings improving from the previous year.

The latest data showed that global political freedom and the rule of law continued to decline, while prosperity growth slowed, though post-pandemic economic recovery continued.

The report also warned that the judicial foundations underpinning prosperity are being eroded rapidly. The global average scores for the freedom and prosperity indexes stood at 62.2 and 66.5, respectively, the report showed.

Taiwan scored 84.8 on the freedom index and 86.1 on the prosperity index, placing it well above the global averages.

In the East Asia and Pacific region, Japan ranked 14th in freedom and 25th in prosperity, while South Korea ranked 25th and 28th, respectively. Singapore ranked 30th in freedom and 18th in prosperity.

Meanwhile, China ranked 147th, at the bottom of the freedom category among Asian countries, and 93rd in the prosperity category, close to the lowest ranking.

The freedom index evaluates countries based on political, economic and legal factors, including elections, civil liberties, investment and trade freedom, judicial independence and corruption. The prosperity index measures six areas: income, health, income equality, the environment, opportunities for minority groups and education.

Last year, Taiwan ranked 23rd in the freedom index and 28th in the prosperity index among the 164 countries assessed. With this year's report expanding to 171 countries, Taiwan's prosperity ranking jumped by nine places.

The Atlantic Council established its Freedom and Prosperity Center in 2022. Since then, the center has published its Freedom and Prosperity Indexes annually, using political and economic data dating back to 1995, adding new data and countries each year to provide a reference for policymakers.