The Heritage Foundation has released its 2026 Economic Freedom Index, evaluating countries based on business freedom, fiscal policy, property rights, government efficiency, and financial, investment, and trade freedom. Georgia’s overall score increased by 0.6 points to 69.6, but this improvement was not enough to change its global ranking, leaving the country in 35th place.
Georgia’s score remains below its 2021 level of 76, when it ranked 12th worldwide. The recent decline is attributed to weaker property rights, reduced judicial effectiveness, lower governance quality, declines in business and financial freedom, and reduced monetary freedom. From 2012 to 2022, Georgia consistently scored above 70, but the score has stayed below that threshold since 2023.
Component-wise, Georgia saw a significant drop in property rights (62.3 → 53), while fiscal health improved substantially (75.9 → 89.1) due to a lower debt-to-GDP ratio. Other key scores in 2026 include government effectiveness – 59.9 (+1), judicial effectiveness – 53.8 (-1.5), tax burden – 87.8 (-1.3), business freedom – 76.6 (-1.5), labor freedom – 64 (+0.5), monetary freedom – 70.2 (+4.9), trade freedom – 86.8 (+0.6), and investment and financial freedom – 60 each (unchanged).
Regionally, Armenia scored 67.1 (52nd), Azerbaijan 64.3 (67th), Turkey 55 (117th), and Russia 50.3 (145th). Globally, Singapore ranks first with 84.4 points, followed by Switzerland (83.7) and Ireland (83.3). Countries at the bottom of the index include North Korea (3.1), Cuba (25.2), and Venezuela (27.3).
