Global Economic Freedom Recovering but Still Below Pre-Pandemic Peak
A new Fraser Institute report finds economic freedom rising globally but still trailing pre-pandemic levels, wiping out a decade of gains.
Global economic freedom has begun to rebound from pandemic-era lows but has yet to recover the ground lost since 2019, according to the 2026 Economic Freedom of the World report released Tuesday by the Fraser Institute, a Canadian policy research organization based in Toronto.
The annual index, which tracks indicators such as government spending, regulatory environments, property rights, and trade openness across countries, found that the recovery has been uneven — with some nations regaining lost ground more quickly than others while a number continue to lag behind pre-pandemic benchmarks.
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The findings underscore the lasting economic disruption caused by pandemic-era policy responses worldwide. Lockdowns, expanded government programs, and supply-chain interventions introduced between 2020 and 2022 collectively erased roughly a decade of incremental progress in economic liberalization, the report concluded.
The Fraser Institute publishes the Economic Freedom of the World index annually, positioning it as a key reference for researchers, policymakers, and investors seeking to assess the relative openness of national economies. An uneven global recovery raises questions about which structural factors are enabling faster rebounds in some regions and impeding progress in others — a gap analysts say may have long-term implications for growth and investment flows.
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