Taiwan achieves its best ranking in the Index of Economic Freedom 2023

The US think tank The Heritage Foundation public the 2023 Index of Economic Freedom, ranking Taiwan fourth out of 184 economies.

With a total score of 80.7 out of 100, Taiwan was ranked second out of 39 Asia-Pacific economies. It surpassed South Korea (73.7); Japan (69.3); Malaysia (67.3); Indonesian, (63.5); and China (48.3).

Taiwan was one of four countries to make it to the top category of free in this year’s Index of Economic Freedom, scoring 80.7, up 0.6 points from 2022. The other three countries in the category “ free” this year were Singapore, Switzerland and Ireland, in that order, while New Zealand, Luxembourg and Estonia were left out of that top tier, which had seven places in 2022.

According to the index, Taiwan improved in seven of the 12 benchmarks used to compile the rankings. The biggest gains were in fiscal health and government integrity, which increased by seven points and 2.5 points compared to the previous year to 93.6 and 76.3, respectively.

China and Taiwan publish their trade figures, China and ASEAN: What’s coming up in Asia this week #46

According to the National Development Council (NDC) at the Cabinet level, the two outstanding performances can be attributed to the drop in the ratio of public debt to gross domestic product, which went from 33.7 percent in 2022 to 28.4 percent in 2023, as well as regulatory reforms such as reforms to the Public Servants Asset Declaration Law.

The report demonstrated the effectiveness of Taiwan’s continuous efforts to strengthen its economic environment, the NDC said, adding that the government will continue to promote innovation, encourage sustainable development and create a better investment environment for domestic and foreign companies.

First released in 1995, this annual index tracks economic freedom in 184 markets around the world based on benchmarks spanning the size of government, open markets, regulatory efficiency, and the rule of law.