Denmark remains among most economically free nations in the world

High taxes and huge public sector still a hurdle

Oct 12, 2015

Despite dropping a few spots compared to last year, Denmark continues to be one of the most economically free nations in the world, according to the 2015 Economic Freedom of the World Index.

The index, created by a number of experts – including the Nobel Prize winners Milton Friedman, Gary Becker and Douglas North and published annually by the Fraser Institute – ranked Denmark 22nd in the world.

“Denmark’s solid placement is underpinned, for instance, by the framework in place to run a business, which is relatively good across a number of parameters,” said Mads Lundby Hansen, a chief economist with the Danish think-tank CEPOS.

“We have a good enforcement of private property rights, openness to free trade and a flexible labour market where the minimum wage isn’t set by the state.”

Could be better
Denmark would feature even higher on the index (here in English) if its public sector was smaller and taxes were reduced, said Hansen. Denmark was ranked 154th out of 157 nations in this regard.

The index was topped once again by Hong Kong, followed by Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates. Mauritius, Jordan, Ireland, Canada and the UK completed the top ten.

Other notables included Australia (12), US (16), Finland (19), Japan (26), Norway (27), Germany (29), the Netherlands (30), South Korea (39), Sweden (42), France (70), South Africa (96), Russia (99), India (114), Brazil (118) and Iran (147).

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