EKIP– Expert Club for Economics and Politics A Different Opinion
This month, the latest edition of the Cato Institute’s Human Freedom Index in Washington, D.C., was released. According to the report, which is based on data from 2014, Bulgaria’s Human Freedom Index score is 7.86, a slight improvement from last year’s score of 7.80. Before we delve into what this improvement is due to and how Bulgaria ranks relative to the rest of the world, let’s first clarify what the index itself is.
The level of human freedom around the world
The Human Freedom Index measures both the economic and personal freedom of citizens of each country around the world, based on 76 different indicators in the following areas: rule of law, security and safety, freedom of movement, religious freedom, freedom of association, freedom of expression, freedom of personal relationships, size of the state apparatus, legal system and private property rights, access to quality money/currency, freedom of international trade, level of regulations on business, labor and credit.
This index is one of the most in-depth indicators that measure the level of economic and personal freedom. Therefore, it can give us very useful information about how the level of freedom in Bulgaria is moving and where we rank compared to the rest of the world. The history of the index dates back to 2008, when its first edition was published. The index measures the level of personal and economic freedom in each country in the world (for which there is sufficient data) on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 meaning maximum freedom in the respective area, and 1 meaning minimum (almost none).
Chart 1: Human Freedom Index around the world (2014)
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The data used for the latest edition of the index, which was published recently, is from 2014. This is the last year for which there is sufficiently comprehensive data on the relevant indicators for almost all countries around the world. Before we look specifically at the situation in Bulgaria, let's review the state of human freedom on a global level. On the map above, you can see what the index level is in every country around the world for which comprehensive data is available.
Bulgaria's position in the global and regional context
As we can see, Europe and North America stand out as the regions with the highest level of human freedom, while the situation in the rest of the world is relatively mixed. As for the Balkans, where Bulgaria is located, although there is a slight drop in the index compared to Western Europe, it is not particularly significant. According to the index, Bulgaria actually surpasses most of its immediate neighbors in terms of freedom - Romania is the only exception.
In the overall ranking in 2014, we are ranked 40th in the world in terms of human freedom. This means that compared to 2013, we have fallen one position in the ranking. Meanwhile, our northern neighbor Romania has climbed two places compared to 2013 and is ranked 30th in 2014. Although Bulgaria has traditionally been in the top three on the Balkan Peninsula, in 2013 and 2014 there was a noticeable lag and a number of countries in the region such as Romania and Cyprus overtook us. In 2014, however, we managed to overtake Montenegro in the ranking, which lagged behind to 44th place. All our other neighbors such as Greece, Serbia, Macedonia and Turkey lag behind us in the latest ranking of the index.
Chart 2: Dynamics of personal and economic freedom indices in Bulgaria (2008-2014)
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However, this should not reassure us, because, as we have seen, we are lagging behind in the rankings, despite the slight improvement in the level of the index in our country. The graph above depicts the dynamics of the indices of personal and economic freedom in Bulgaria between 2008 and 2014. Based on these two indices, the overall index of human freedom is formed. As we can see, within the period under review, the index reaches its peak in 2010, after which it falls for three years, before recovering from 7.8 in 2013 to 7.86 in 2014. The overall picture shows that in 2014 we almost reach the levels of human freedom from 2008. Let us hope that this upward trend will not only persist, but will also accelerate in the future.
We are almost back to the overall level of human freedom we had in 2008.
It is noticeable that the trends in the indices of economic and personal freedom are quite different. While economic freedom has improved in almost every year of the period under review except for 2013, the dynamics in the level of personal freedom are much more mixed. Overall, however, for the entire period, the index of personal freedom in our country fell to 8.33 in 2014 from 8.56 in 2008. This is a significant drop of over 20 points. Meanwhile, the level of economic freedom has increased from 7.2 in 2008 to 7.39 in 2014.
Note that overall, the level of economic freedom in our country is significantly lower than that of personal freedom, but the movement in both indicators during the period 2008-2014 is opposite. The fact that the level of economic freedom is increasing is a good sign, but on the other hand, the fact that personal freedom is becoming increasingly limited is worrying. Especially considering that economic freedom is improving from a lower base anyway.
Personal freedom worsens, economic freedom improves in 2008-2014.
In the table below, we can look at a more detailed breakdown of the index by components to get an idea of what this dynamic could be due to. It is noticeable that Bulgaria performs worst in the "rule of law" category. This is not surprising given the notoriously high levels of corruption in our country and the numerous scandals related to the judicial system in recent years. Despite a temporary deterioration in 2012 and 2013, this indicator has maintained a relatively stable level - 5.3 in 2008 and the same in 2014.
It is noticeable that we perform best in three categories – freedom of movement, freedom of religion and freedom of association. It is the improvement in the level of freedom of religion in our country in 2014 compared to 2013 that is probably the key factor leading to the slight improvement in the level of personal freedom in our country in the latest edition of the index. More generally, however, we see that the scores in all categories in 2014 are the same as those in 2008. This means that our lagging behind in the world ranking is not so much due to a deterioration in the overall level of human freedom in our country, but rather to long-term stagnation.
This is not a good sign, because while we are stagnating, the situation in the rest of the world is quite different. Our neighbor Romania has seen remarkable improvements in the overall level of human freedom over the same period, and this is why it has risen significantly in the world index ranking. Politicians in our country should start paying much more serious attention to how much personal and economic freedom the citizens they represent have. Because, as is clear from the correlation between the level of this index and the levels of GDP, the freedom of citizens is a determining factor for the prosperity of any nation.
We occupy an unenviable 109th place in terms of freedom of speech. Next to us are countries like Uganda, Zambia, CAR, Congo... https://rsf.org/en/ranking
Are there rights without obligations and freedom without responsibility? Because we constantly talk about freedom, and it is not available to everyone, mainly for economic reasons. There is no equal access to education and capital anywhere in the world, and in general, social mobility is decreasing, and with it the freedom of at least 80%. Inequality is growing and is inherited through access to education, through family ties and the social network of elite schools, through access to capital. What kind of economic freedom is it then? Probably only about the freedom of the rich to become even richer, and to the rest to sell their labor freely. What kind of freedom can we talk about in our country with the growth of economic, political, media and judicial power. In our country, an oligarchy rules, in the US a plutocracy, and in the EU officials.