DUSHANBE, January 14, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- The 2008 Index of Economic Freedom published by the Wall Street Journal and the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, ranked Tajikistan 122nd among 183 economies in terms of degree of economic freedom.

The Index''s 2008 definition of economic freedom is the following; "The highest form of economic freedom provides an absolute right of property ownership, fully realized freedoms of movement for labor, capital, and goods, and an absolute absence of coercion or constraint of economic liberty beyond the extent necessary for citizens to protect and maintain liberty itself."

The economies are put in several categories: free; mostly free; moderately free; mostly unfree; and repressed economies.

Together with Azerbaijan (99th), Moldova (120th), Russia (146th) and Uzbekistan (148th), Tajikistan was put in the “mostly unfree” category.

Kyrgyzstan ranked 74th is among “moderately free” countries.

Ukraine (152nd), Belarus (167th) and Turkmenistan (169th) are among the “repressed economies.”

The index scores nations on 10 broad factors of economic freedom using statistics from organizations like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Economist Intelligence Unit: business freedom;  trade freedom; monetary freedom; freedom from government; fiscal freedom; property rights; investment freedom; financial freedom;  freedom from corruption; and labor freedom.

The 10 factors are averaged equally into a total score.  Each one of the 10 freedoms is graded using a scale from 0 to 100, where 100 represents the maximum freedom.  A score of 100 signifies an economic environment or set of policies that is most conducive to economic freedom.  The methodology has shifted and changed as new data and measurements have become available, especially in the area of Labor freedom, which was given its own indicator spot in 2007.  Another change is that the Index is overseen by an Academic Advisory Board.