The global index ranks 125 countries in terms of property rights protection, covering 98% of global GDP and 93% of the world’s population.

KEFiM “Markos Dragoumis” and the Property Rights Alliance, in cooperation with 113 think tanks across the world, published on August 8th, 2018 the International Property Rights Index produced by the Free Market Foundation in South Africa. The index measures the strength of intellectual property rights, as well as the legal and political environment in which they are contained.

Worldwide, six billion people suffer from inadequate protection of their property rights. Only 758 million people, 13% of the world, enjoy adequate protections for their artistic works, inventions, and private property. Three countries, Finland, New Zealand, and Switzerland, representing 0.25% of the world, have achieved the highest level of property rights protection according to the International Property Rights Index for 2018.

What is worrying is that for the first time the United States has fallen from being 1st for intellectual property protection to 2nd under Finland, which also surpassed New Zealand to rank 1st in the index overall (8,69). The Index is also the first publication to take advantage of the recently updated Patent Index developed by Professor Walter Park at American University.

Property rights are a key indicator of economic success and political stability. Renowned economist Hernando De Soto said, “weak property rights systems not only blind economies from realizing the immense hidden capital of their entrepreneurs, but they withhold them from other benefits as evidenced through the powerful correlations in this year’s Index: human freedom, economic liberty, perception of corruption, civic activism, and even the ability to be connected to the internet, to name a few.”

Property rights are an essential component of prosperous and free societies. This year the report includes correlations with no less than 23 economic and social indicators, including 9 specific to e-commerce which displayed some of the strongest relationships the Index has ever discovered – suggesting rights play an important role in addressing internet access issues.

Property Rights are restricted by gender. Poor property rights protections are bad enough; however, the Gender Equality component of the Index reveals that several countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa regions continue to limit property ownership based solely on gender.

As far as Greece is concerned, the country’s performance declined by 0.12 to 5.266, ranking it 19th in the Western European region and 67th in the world. Greece is classified by the IMF as one of the developed economies and by the World Bank in the category of high income countries.

Greece’s Legal and Political index increased by 0.052 to 4.999 with a performance of 4.692 in Judicial Independence, 5.392 in Rule of Law, 5.016 in Political Stability, and 4.895 in Control of Corruption.

Greece’s Physical Property Rights index decreased by -0.03 to 5.160 with a performance of 4.809 in perception of Property Rights Protection, 9.269 in Registering Property, and 1.403 in Ease of Access to Loans.

Greece’s Intellectual Property Rights Subindex decreased by -0.38 to 5.640 with a performance of 5.453 in perception of Intellectual Property Protection, 7.766 in Patent Protection, and 3.7 in Copyright Protection.

For more information, find more data on every country’s profile and a comparison tool.