| # | Country | Economic FreedomHeritage 2024 | Gov't Spending% of GDP | Avg. Real GDP Growth~2004–2024 | Crime / Terrorism / War Risk |
Mechanisms Keeping Government Small |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇸🇬 Singapore | 83.5 (Free) | ~14% | ~4.0% | Very low | City-state with no rural/agricultural subsidies to fund; mandatory savings (CPF) substitutes for a Western welfare state; PAP's free-market ideology; strict constitutional fiscal rules; land-sales revenue funds public services; small, meritocratic civil service. |
| 2 | 🇺🇦 Hong Kong SAR | 78.6 (Mostly Free) | ~17% | ~2.2% | Very low | "Positive non-interventionism" philosophy; British colonial free-trade legacy; flat 15% income tax, no VAT, no capital-gains or inheritance tax; land-lease revenue funds government; minimal welfare state. |
| 3 | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | 80.1 (Free) | ~17% | ~2.8% | Low | KMT legacy of state-led development with strict fiscal discipline; efficient single-payer NHI keeps healthcare costs low; export-led model needs few subsidies; statutory public-debt ceiling; large current-account surplus. |
| 4 | 🇮🇪 Ireland | 80.2 (Free) | ~25% | ~3.8% | Very low | 12.5% corporate tax anchors a pro-FDI model; EU membership gives single-market access without a continental welfare state; post-2010 austerity entrenched spending rules; young population limits pension/health burden. |
| 5 | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | 81.7 (Free) | ~34% (federal <12%) | ~1.7% | Very low | Direct democracy: citizens can force binding fiscal referendums; cantonal and municipal federalism creates tax-and-spending competition; constitutional debt-brake (Schuldenbremse); most new spending requires popular approval. |
| 6 | 🇪🇹 Estonia | 77.6 (Mostly Free) | ~33% | ~3.3% | Low | Flat income tax since 1994 limits revenue-raising temptation; near-100% digital government slashes bureaucracy costs; tiny population (1.3 m); post-Soviet liberalisation; EU/NATO membership without a continental welfare state. |
| 7 | 🇬🇪 Georgia | 70.2 (Mostly Free) | ~28% | ~5.0% | Low (Russia border risk) | Post-2003 Rose Revolution deregulation under Saakashvili: business licences cut from ~900 to ~150; extortion by fire inspectors ended; flat 20% income and profit tax; near-zero import tariffs; explicit "small state" ideology. |
| 8 | 🇲🇵 Mauritius | 69.7 (Mostly Free) | ~27% | ~3.4% | Very low | Trade liberalisation from the 1980s; export-processing zones; shift from sugar monoculture to tourism and financial services; low 15% headline tax; political stability since independence; transparent institutions. |
| 9 | 🇨🇳 Chile | 70.4 (Mostly Free) | ~26% | ~2.4% | Low | Structural-balance fiscal rule insulates budget from copper-price swings; privatised AFP pension system removes pay-as-you-go liabilities; network of free-trade agreements; flat corporate tax; independent central bank. |
| 10 | 🇻🇦 Botswana | 67.5 (Mod. Free) | ~30% | ~4.3% | Low–moderate | Sub-sovereign Pula Fund and fiscal rules save diamond windfalls abroad; consultative (kgotla) democracy; stable multi-party system since 1966; limited state-owned enterprises (avoided the resource curse). |