Europe boasts nine of the world’s 20 freest economies, and 16 of the top 30

The region continues to enjoy a higher standard of living than any other region and 26 of the 43 economies in the European region ended 2010 freer than at the start of the year. Taken as a whole, the region continues to enjoy economic prosperity and stability. Europe’s consistent and enduring embrace of free-market economics has yielded the highest per capita GDP in the world. Average per capita GDP among its five most economically free nations stands at $47,570 – five times that of the five freest countries in sub-Saharan Africa (the least economically free region in the world).