Atlantic Council report: Georgia achieves top global spot for prosperity improvement, recognised as enduring democracy

The Atlantic Council has released its 2025 Freedom and Prosperity Indexes, granting Georgia the status of a country with “moderate freedom” and “moderate prosperity”.

The organisation highlighted Georgia as a nation demonstrating long-term progress globally. With a 12-year improvement in the Prosperity Index (2013-2024), Georgia ranks first worldwide, achieving a historic maximum score of 75.5% on a 100% scale in the Prosperity Index.

Furthermore, Georgia has been categorised as a “permanent democracy with strong political freedom”.

According to the organisation's assessment, countries with a political sub-index score (political freedom) exceeding 50% on a 100% scale are considered democratic, while those with scores below 50% are deemed autocratic.

States that consistently maintain a political sub-index score above 50% over a prolonged period are designated as permanent democracies. Additionally, the publication states that countries and territories with a political freedom index above 75% are considered to have strong political freedom.

This year, Georgia’s political freedom index score stands at 75.1%, which solidifies its status as a permanent democracy with strong political freedom. This fact is further bolstered by Georgia's uninterrupted political freedom index score above 75% since 2013. Prior to 2013, Georgia consistently lacked this capability.

The Atlantic Council's Freedom and Prosperity Center also summarised the 12-year period of global democratic development since 2012. Georgia was named among nearly 50 countries worldwide where democracy, or political freedom, has experienced long-term progress. Georgian society is part of the 9% of the world’s population that has seen improvement in political freedom compared to 2012.

In the political freedom category, Georgia received its highest scores in key criteria such as “elections”, where it earned 82.4% on a 100% scale, followed by “civil liberties” at 81.8%.

Additionally, Georgia ranked among the top 40 countries globally for minority rights protection, securing the 39th position. In the ranking for bureaucratic soundness and freedom from corruption, Georgia placed 36th worldwide, making it into the top twenty in Europe.

Georgia surpasses all EU candidate countries and 16 EU and NATO member states in bureaucratic soundness and freedom from corruption: Latvia, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Poland, Croatia, Slovakia, Malta, Hungary, Greece, Montenegro, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, North Macedonia, and Turkey.

The organisation assesses the overall state of freedom based on criteria such as fair elections, civil liberties, political rights, clarity of law, judicial independence and effectiveness, sound bureaucracy and freedom from corruption, public safety, property rights, and more. These criteria are grouped into three aggregate indexes: the Economic Freedom Index, the Political Freedom Index, and the Legal Freedom Index.

As for the Prosperity Index, its evaluation is based on six pillars:

• Income Levels
• Environmental Protection
• Protection of Minority Rights
• Public Health
• Education
• Equality

The Prosperity Index ranks 164 countries and territories worldwide into four categories: high prosperity, moderate prosperity, low prosperity, and lowest prosperity. Georgia received a “moderate prosperity” status according to the index, ranking 47th globally. The organization explains that “high prosperity” status is given to a country that ranks between the 1st and 41st positions in the prosperity ranking. Georgia is currently in 47th place, needing to advance only 6 positions to achieve “high prosperity” status. This year, Georgia surpassed all neighboring states, all EU candidate countries, and five EU and NATO member states in the prosperity ranking: Bulgaria, Turkey, Albania, North Macedonia, and Montenegro.

The Freedom and Prosperity Indexes are compiled by the Atlantic Council's Freedom and Prosperity Center and are primarily based on detailed international research, scientific expertise, and aggregated indexes from the World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators, the United Nations, the American organization Heritage Foundation, and the Varieties of Democracy organisation.