The Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal Index of Economic Freedom uses a set of objective economic criteria to study and grade various countries for the annual publication of the Index of Economic Freedom. The following list ranks regions based on the amount of economic restrictions placed upon individuals. Higher values indicate higher levels of restriction.

Complete List

Ranking	Region	Rate
1	South-Central Asia	3.8
2	Middle Africa	3.5
3	Northern Africa	3.5
4	Western Africa	3.4
5	Eastern Africa	3.4
6	South-Eastern Asia	3.3
7	Melanesia	3.3
8	South America	3.2
9	Caribbean	3.1
10	Eastern Europe	3.0
11	Southern Africa	3.0
11	Western Asia	3.0
12	The World	2.9
13	Central America	2.9
14	Eastern Asia	2.8
15	Southern Europe	2.7
16	Western Europe	2.0
17	Northern Europe	1.9
18	Northern America	1.9
19	Australia/New Zealand	1.8
--	Micronesia (Region)	--
--	Polynesia	--

Source

The data presented in QuickLists are from a variety of sources including the U.S. Census Bureau's International Data Base, the U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom Report, the United Nations Human Development Reports, and others.

[Further information about this data source]