Vietnam rises four places in economic freedom ranking

The rankings measure the degree to which the policies and institutions of countries are supportive of economic freedom.

Singapore tops the list, followed by Hong Kong, Switzerland, New Zealand, and the U.S.

In Southeast Asia, Malaysia fell three places to 56th, Thailand rose eight places to 64th and the Philippines dropped three places to 70th.

Indonesia ranked 74th, down one place, Cambodia fell three places to 78th and Laos rose one place to 107th.

The rankings consider five metrics: size of government, legal system and property rights, sound money, freedom to trade internationally, and regulation.

Vietnam for the first time saw its legal system and property rights scores surpass 5. Sound money scoring went up from 6.96 last year to 7.02 this year, while trade rose from 6.4 to 6.52.

Dinh Tuan Minh, head of research at Market-based Solutions Center for Social and Economic Issues (MASSEI), part of Fraser’s network, said Vietnam’s ranking has been increasing steadily since 2015, reflecting the government’s efforts to develop a market economy of global standards. "This is good evidence to confirm that Vietnam is basically operating as a market economy."