Costa Rica leads in personal and economic freedom

In 38th place among 159 countries, Costa Rica has the region’s highest level of personal and economic liberty, according to the 2016 Human

Freedom Index, a joint publication of the Cato Institute, the Fraser Institute, and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom.

In Latin America, only Chile is ahead of Costa Rica, which moved up two positions from last year's ranking.
Panama, in 46th place globally, is second in Central America, while Honduras – in 101st position worldwide - is last.

Hong Kong placed first overall for the second year in a row, while Libya, which fell eight positions, is in last place.

Human freedom is calculated in both personal and economic terms, taking into account rule of law, security, and freedom of movement, religion and association, among other factors (numbers in brackets indicate the global position of each country in the index).

1            Costa Rica (38)
2            Panama (46)
3             El Salvador (58)
4            Guatemala (68)
5            Nicaragua (76)
6            Honduras (101)