Ireland is the world's seventh most economically free country, according to a new report.
Hong Kong was rated the world's freest economy for a 17th straight year in the rankings by the US-based Heritage Foundation, not far ahead of Singapore and Australia.
With a score of 89.7 Hong Kong was well above the world average of 59.7, the Heritage Foundation said in its 2011 report which was released today.
The study assessed 183 economies in terms of investor and trade freedom, property rights, tax rates, corruption, government spending and labour movement.
"Hong Kong, one of the world's most competitive financial and business centers, demonstrated a high degree of resilience during the global financial crisis," the report said.
Freedom in trade and finance was the biggest boost to Hong Kong's ranking, while investment freedom and property rights, business and monetary freedom all scored highly.
Ireland slipped one place in the rankings to 7th, ahead of Denmark and the UK but behind Canada and Switzerland. Among European economies, Ireland ranked second with a total score of 78.7.
Ireland did well in categories such as labour movement, property rights, monetary and fiscal freedom, but did not impress with regard to government expenditure and the tax burden.
The United States fell to the 9th freest from 8th last year and United Kingdom slipped to 16th place from 11th in 2010 due to more policy responses to the global economic turmoil, it added.
North Korea ranked 179th, at the bottom of the list with a score of 1.0, followed by Zimbabwe in 178th place with a score of 22.1. Afghanistan, Iraq, Liechtenstein and Sudan were unranked.
Rank Economy Overall score (out of 100)
1 Hong Kong 89.7
2 Singapore 87.2
3 Australia 82.5
4 New Zealand 82.3
5 Switzerland 81.9
6 Canada 80.8
7 Ireland 78.7
8 Denmark 78.6
9 United States 77.8
10 Bahrain 77.7
