Alberta freest province, but ranks 30th among all North American states and provinces, while other provinces in bottom half of ranking
VANCOUVER, BC, Dec. 2, 2025 /CNW/ - Alberta is, once again, the Canadian province with the highest level of economic freedom but ranks 30th overall amongst all North American (U.S. and Mexican) states and Canadian provinces, and the remaining provinces all rank in the bottom half in the annual Economic Freedom of North America report, published today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan, public policy think-tank.
People have more economic freedom when they are allowed to make more of their own economic decisions--about what to buy, where and how to work and how to start and run businesses. Hundreds of academic papers find that economic freedom is fundamental to prosperity and well-being.
The report has four indexes: three sub-national indexes that measure restrictions on economic freedom at the province/state and local level in Canada, the US, and Mexico, and an all-government index which adds federal restrictions on economic freedom so that people can compare jurisdictions between the three countries.
"High taxes, high levels of government spending and overly-burdensome regulations continue to depress economic freedom across much of Canada, which makes it harder for businesses to thrive and create jobs," said Matthew Mitchell, a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and co-author of this year's report. The indexes measure government spending, taxation, regulations and labour market restrictions using data from 2023 (the latest year of available comparable data).
In the all-government index, which includes federal policies, Alberta is once again the highest-ranking Canadian province, tied with West Virginia at 30th overall.
The next freest province is British Columbia, which ranks 47th (tied with Rhode Island), followed by Ontario (49th), Manitoba (54th) and Saskatchewan (55th).
Newfoundland & Labrador is the lowest-ranked Canadian province in the all-government index at 60th. The next-lowest are Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia tied at 58th followed by New Brunswick at 57th.
New Hampshire is once again the top ranked jurisdiction.
Critically, seven of the 10 Canadian provinces rank below all 50 US states in all-government economic freedom.
"The link between economic freedom and prosperity is clear: people who live in jurisdictions that have comparatively low taxation, limited government, sound regulatory regimes and flexible labour markets tend to prosper as researchers find they are more likely to live happier, healthier, and wealthier lives," Mitchell said.
The Economic Freedom of North America report (co-authored by Dean Stansel, José Torra and Ángel Carrión-Tavárez) is an offshoot of the Fraser Institute's Economic Freedom of the World index, the result of more than a quarter century of work by more than 60 scholars including three Nobel laureates.
Detailed tables for each country and subnational jurisdiction can be found at www.freetheworld.org.
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The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institute's independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org
SOURCE The Fraser Institute
MEDIA CONTACT: Matthew Mitchell, Fraser Institute; To arrange an interview, please contact: Drue MacPherson, 604-688-0221 ext. 721, [email protected]
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