• Singapore has topped the global ranking in the Economic Freedom Index 2021, for second year in a row, published by US conservative think-tank, The Heritage Foundation.
• The overall score of Singapore increased by 0.3 points to 89.7 in this edition, primarily due to an improvement in the score for government spending. 
• The index has covered 184 countries in the study and the period of study is July 2019 to June 2020.
• India has been placed at 121 position in the index, with a score of 56.5 out of 100. India is put under “Mostly Unfree category”.
• Among Asia-Pacific countries, India ranks 26 out of 40 countries.

The Economic Freedom Index 

• The Economic Freedom Index aims to measure the progress made in terms of economic freedom which it believes to be associated with healthier societies, cleaner environments, greater per capita wealth, human development, democracy, and poverty elimination.”
• The index ranks countries based on 12 indicators, grouped into four categories as given below.
• Rule of Law (property rights, government integrity, judicial effectiveness)
• Government Size (government spending, tax burden, fiscal health)
• Regulatory Efficiency (business freedom, labor freedom, monetary freedom)
• Open Markets (trade freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom)