India and China are ranked 119th and 136threspectively and both termed "unfree" according to the 2013 Index ofEconomic Freedom published annually by The Wall Street Journal and The HeritageFoundation.
The Asia-Pacific region is home to the world's freesteconomy, and its most repressed, according to the index released here Thursday.
For the 19th consecutive year, Hong Kong maintained its topposition, while North Korea languishes at the bottom.
However, the Asia Pacific region's "foundations forlong-term economic development continue to be fragile in the absence ofeffectively functioning legal frameworks", the index's editors write.
"Progress with market-oriented reforms has been unevenand has often backtracked under the influence of those with a politicalinterest in maintaining the status quo".
Singapore, Australia and New Zealand finished 2-3-4respectively, while the US is ranked 10th in the index that evaluates countriesin four broad areas of economic freedom -- rule of law, regulatory efficiency,limited government, and open markets.
Based on its aggregate score, each of 177 countries gradedin the 2013 index was classified as "free" (i.e. combined scores of80 or higher), "mostly free" (70-79.9), "moderately free"(60-69.9), "mostly unfree" (50-59.9), or "repressed" (under50).
Europe, the second-freest region and the world's mostimproved, narrowed the gap with North America in the 2013 index.
The scores of 32 countries improved, while just nine losteconomic freedom.
Switzerland continues to be the only "free"economy in the region, which has only two "repressed" economies thatscore below 50 -- Ukraine and Belarus.
North America continues to be the world's freest region,though Mexico was the only economy that improved its index score over the lastyear.
The region boasts two "mostly free" economies(Canada and the US) and one "moderately free" economy (Mexico). Itleads the world in terms of rule of law, regulatory efficiency and openmarkets, but is getting worse where government spending is concerned.
The world average score of 59.6 was only one-tenth of apoint above the 2012 average. Since reaching a global peak in 2008, the editorsnote, economic freedom has continued to stagnate.
The overall trend for last year, however, was positive.Among the 177 countries ranked in the 2013 index, scores improved for 91countries and declined for 78.
"On the plus side, average government spending scoresimproved. Unfortunately, this was matched by a decline in regulatoryefficiency, as a number of countries hiked minimum wages and tightened controlof labour markets," the editors wrote.
"The global advance toward economic freedomhas ground to a halt," they concluded.