International study assesses world is very far from freedom

The Republic of Moldova is ranked 93, with 55.10 points in the State of World Liberty index. The research includes 159 countries, which were broken into three criteria: individual freedom, economic freedom and government size/taxation and averaged. Estonia sits atop this list with 85.25 points. This former soviet republic outruns states with such democracy traditions as Ireland, Canada and Switzerland. Iceland, Bahamas, Great Britain, USA, Cyprus and New Zeeland scored in the freest countries. France is placed the 48th. Another two Baltic states – Lithuania and Latvia – are placed 16th and respectively 20th. Romania holds the 63rd position, whilst Bulgaria is the 50th. According to the authors of the research, the freest region of the world is Europe which accumulated an average score of 70.49 points. However, CIS member countries are at the end of the list. Only 4 CIS countries placed in the Top-100: Georgia (#58), Armenia (#79), Ukraine (#87) and Moldova (#93). Russia is only 124th and Byelorussia – 153rd, country situated between Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, the last of CIS countries. Cuba, Libya and North Korea are at the bottom of the list. According to the research, the world receives an average score of 56.9, almost equal to the score of Lesotho, placed 90th. So the authors draw the conclusion that the “modern world is not free”. The research is based on the results of previous researches of such international institutions as The Heritage Foundation, Wall Street Journal, Frasier, Cato, Freedom House and “Reporters sans frontiers”.