Hong Kong placed 15th for property rights protections, up from 16th last year, landing itself in the top quintile of 2020’s International Property Rights Index (IPRI).
The IPRI is an annual publication of the Property Rights Alliance (PRA), an advocacy organisation based in Washington, DC. The global index ranks property right protections in 129 countries, covering 94 percent of the world’s population and 98 percent of the global GDP. The index ranks the strength of physical and intellectual property rights protections in each country.
Dr Sary Levy-Carciente, 2020 Hernando De Soto fellow and author of the 2020 IPRI, emphasises the significance of property rights in the report’s introduction. She writes, “We should insist that property rights are human rights, and that is the fundamental reason for the preference of a system with strong private property rights. Private property rights protect individual liberty.”
Finland and the USA are the global leaders in Intellectual Property Rights protections. Overall, Finland is in first place on the list with Switzerland in second and Singapore in third. The other countries in the top quintile not yet mentioned are New Zealand in 4th place, then Japan, Australia, Netherlands, Norway, Luxemburg, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, USA, and Canada.
We should insist that property rights are human rights, and that is the fundamental reason for the preference of a system with strong private property rights. Private property rights protect individual liberty.DR SARY LEVY-CARCIENTE
At the global launch of the index streamed live on YouTube yesterday, Dr Levy-Carciente informed viewers that the countries in the top quintile have remained more or less consistent since 2017.
Regionally, Hong Kong ranks 5 out of 19 and has an overall score of 7.941 – an increase from 7.902 in 2019. Worldwide the index saw an overall setback in the average IPRI score for the second year running, which sits at 5.73 in 2020.
For more information on the IPRI, please visit their website.
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