A garment factory in Vietnam.
A garment factory in Vietnam.

The institute has released its annual report with 2022 data. The rankings measure the degree to which the policies and institutions of countries are supportive of economic freedom, considering five metrics: size of government, legal system and property rights, sound money, freedom to trade internationally, and regulation.

Vietnam's scores and rankings improved continuously in the three consecutive years of 2020, 2021, and 2022. However, that was the time when the whole world had to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, so many countries have applied measures that significantly affected the economic freedom of their people.

In ASEAN, Singapore ranked second, Malaysia 29th, Philippines 59th, Indonesia 59th, and Thailand 65th.

In addition to Vietnam, four other ASEAN countries also have their rankings improved, namely Cambodia (up four places), Indonesia (two), Malaysia (14), and Philippines (nine).

In East Asia, Japan ranked 11th (up four places), followed by Taiwan (China) (19th, down eight places), and the Korea of Republic (32nd, up 13 places). China is ranked 104th, lower than Vietnam, but also up three places./.