Heritage Foundation releases 2025 Index of Economic Freedom: Georgia ranks among Europe’s top 20

The Heritage Foundation, the world’s leading research organisation and Washington’s top analytical center, published the 2025 Index of Economic Freedom, according to which, Georgia’s score improved by 0.6 points, reaching 69, placing the country 35th globally and among the top 20 economies in Europe.

The report noted that the country’s economic freedom score was higher than both global and regional averages, with Georgia's economy being considered “moderately free”.

Despite a challenging external and political environment, Georgia's economy performs relatively well in key policy areas. Over the years, reforms have been implemented to enhance regulatory efficiency, and an open market policy has been maintained alongside low tax rates.

In terms of economic freedom, Georgia surpasses all EU candidate countries as well as 16 EU and NATO member states, including France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta, Romania, Bulgaria, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Hungary, Greece, Turkey, and Albania.

The global survey also positively assessed the rule of law in the country.

The report noted that the rule of law was relatively well upheld in Georgia.

“The country’s property rights score is above the global average, its judicial effectiveness score exceeds the global benchmark, and its Government integrity score is also higher than the global average”, the report said.

In terms of judicial effectiveness, Georgia outperforms all EU candidate countries and several EU and NATO member states.

The judicial efficiency evaluation was based on three key criteria:

• Judicial independence
• Quality of judicial proceedings
• Perception of public service quality and civil service independence

As for the Government integrity, Georgia also surpasses all EU candidate countries and 13 EU and NATO member states, including Poland, Cyprus, Malta, Slovakia, Greece, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Montenegro, Turkey, North Macedonia, and Albania.

Government integrity was assessed using the following criteria:

• Perceptions of corruption
• Risk of bribery
• Control of corruption, including state capture by elites and private interests

The research methodology emphasises that the indicator aims to analyse countries’ freedom from adverse factors such as bribery, extortion, nepotism, cronyism, patronage, embezzlement, and misappropriation.

The Heritage Foundation’s index is based on research from multiple analytical centers, including:

• Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index
• TRACE International, The TRACE Matrix
• World Bank, Worldwide Governance Indicators, which itself is based on research from dozens of analytical institutions.