Hong Kong: A new survey on economic freedom lists India and China near the bottom of the index while naming Hong Kong as the world's freest economy for the 13th straight year.
Singapore was ranked No 2 in the study released on Tuesday by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal.
The next top spots were held by Australia, the US and New Zealand, respectively, said the survey, which included 157 economies.
Two of the world's fastest-growing economies, India and China, ranked near the bottom of the index at 104th and 119th, the study said.
China was hobbled by a lack of investment freedom, weak financial institutions and a poor judicial system that didn't properly protect property rights, said President of the Washington-based Heritage
Foundation, a conservative think-tank, Edwin J Feulner.
Although Hong Kong is a Chinese territory, it was ranked separately from China because the former British colony has retained a separate economic and legal system since its return to Chinese rule in 1997.
The least free economies were Libya, Cuba and North Korea, in that order, the survey said.
The study said the rankings were based on a simple average of 10 factors, including property rights, investment freedom and financial freedoms.
Hong Kong placed first in those categories. But the city didn't do as well as Singapore in labour freedom and in the ease of starting businesses.
Hong Kong was also seen as less free from corruption concerns, compared to Singapore.
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