Official Site - The Legatum Prosperity Index is the world's only global assessment of wealth and wellbeing; unlike other studies that rank countries by actual levels of wealth, life satisfaction or development, the Prosperity Index produces rankings based upon the very foundations of prosperity – those factors that help drive economic growth and produce happy citizens over the long term.
The 2009 Legatum Prosperity Index
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Key Finding

3. Freedom cannot be divided

One third of the 79 factors that make up the nine sub-indexes are indicators of freedom, including the freedom to start a business, the ability to access medical care and education, the freedom to worship or engage in political activity, and others reflected in each of the sub-indexes. The factors essential to free societies are positively correlated with prosperity, no matter which aspect of prosperity one measures.

INSIGHT: The Prosperity Index makes a unique contribution to our understanding of freedom. Freedom is not something that can be measured by only assessing government regulatory policies or freedom of speech and worship. Rather, freedom is essential to all aspects of a healthy, successful, prosperous nation and when a country fails to protect and advance the political, civil, and economic liberties of its citizens, its prosperity will be negatively affected in the long run.

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