NZ ranked in top 10 'economically free' countries

New Zealand has been ranked fifth equal in a Wall St survey of world-wide economic freedom.

The survey sought to find a correlation between economic freedom and prosperity.

New Zealand was on par with Ireland. It was behind Hong Kong (1st), Singapore (2nd), Luxembourg (3rd), and Estonia (4th).

The UK was 7th, followed by Iceland and Denmark (8th equal).

"During the last nine years, countries that have done the most to improve their scores on the index's 10 measures of economic freedom have, in general, experienced the highest rates of economic growth," the survey found.

The 2005 Index of Economic Freedom survey, published by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall St Journal, analysed the economies of 155 countries.

For the first time the United States was ranked outside the top 10, at 12th, because its economic growth had remained static, the survey found.

In the Asia-Pacific region, economic freedom continued to grow.

"Still, the news of Asia-Pacific isn't completely good," the survey said.

"The region is the only one in the which average and median freedom scores have declined over the past nine years, even as the rest of the globe has enjoyed a trend toward greater freedom."

While four of the world's top 10 were in Asia-Pacific, the majority of countries in the region were ranked as "mostly unfree", the survey found.

- NZPA