Uruguay is considered economically free again for the first time since 2011 -Index

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – According to the 28th edition of the U.S. Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom, Uruguay ranks second in Latin America with a score of 70.0 and 34th in the world.

This score placed the country below the United Arab Emirates (70.2) and above Japan (69.9), and returned it to being considered largely free after 11 years.

The ranking assesses 12 types of economic freedoms in 184 countries and categorizes them as free, largely free, moderately free, largely unfree, or suppressed freedoms, depending on the score achieved.

In Latin America, Uruguay was surpassed in the ranking only by Chile, which was ranked 20th in the world.

These two countries were the only Latin American countries ranked as largely free, and none of the countries in the Americas fell into the free category.

Peru (51st), Costa Rica (55th), Panama (56th), Colombia (60th), Mexico (67th), Guatemala (69th), the Dominican Republic (71st), and Paraguay (73rd) made up the group of moderately free countries.

The countries classified as largely unfree are El Salvador (90th), Honduras (92nd), Nicaragua (122nd), Ecuador (126th), Brazil (133rd), and Argentina (144th).

The three countries on the continent with suppressed freedoms are Bolivia (169th), Cuba (175th), and Venezuela (176th), according to Rosendo Fraga, director of the Centro de Estudios Nueva Mayoría.

The report shows that 42% of Latin American countries have moderately free economies, 32% have largely unfree economies, 16% have no economic freedoms and only 10% live in largely free economies.

The study categorizes the 12 economic freedoms into four pillars: rule of law, size of government, regulatory efficiency, and open markets.

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