The Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal Index of Economic Freedom uses a set of objective economic criteria to study and grade various countries for the annual publication of the Index of Economic Freedom. The following list ranks regions based on the amount of economic restrictions placed upon individuals. Higher values indicate lower levels of restriction.

Complete List

Ranking	Region	Value
1	Australia/New Zealand	82.4
2	Northern America	79.2
3	Northern Europe	73.6
4	Western Europe	72.6
5	Western Asia	65.1
6	Central America	63.5
7	Southern Europe	63.2
8	Eastern Asia	60.9
9	Southern Africa	60.2
10	Eastern Europe	59.4
11	The World	59.4
12	South America	57.1
13	South-Eastern Asia	56.7
14	Northern Africa	54.8
15	Western Africa	53.4
16	Melanesia	53.3
17	Eastern Africa	52.7
18	South-Central Asia	52.5
19	Middle Africa	48.2
--	Caribbean	--
--	Micronesia (Region)	--
--	Polynesia	--

Source

The data presented in QuickLists are from a variety of sources including the U.S. Census Bureau's International Data Base, the U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom Report, the United Nations Human Development Reports, and others.

[Further information about this data source]