Hong kong ranks first in economic freedom survey

Washington's conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation has released its annual index of Economic Freedom, with Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia topping the list.

The index ranks 179 free-market economies in terms of ten components including freedom of trade, business, labour and investment, and highlights emerging markets for overseas investors.

Big gainers on this year's index were Cyprus, who moved up over 2 percentage points to achieve a score of 73.3, and Sri Lanka, who also achieved a 2.5% increase in their economic freedom score, ranking at number 107 overall.

Meanwhile the United Kingdom had one of the biggest falls, their overall freedom score decreasing 2% to 74.5. Rounding out the top five in freedom scores were New Zealand and Switzerland.