Georgia ranks 35th for economic freedom, Armenia 52nd and Turkey 117th

In the 2026 edition of the Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom, Georgia scores 69.6 and ranks 35th in the world, which also places it 20th of the 44 countries the index groups as Europe. Armenia scores 67.1 at 52nd, Azerbaijan 64.3 at 67th, Turkey 55.0 at 117th and Russia 50.3 at 144th. The spread between Georgia and Turkey is more than 14 points and 82 places. If you are comparing where to register a company or buy a rental across this region, that is the single clearest comparative signal on paper — and it is one reason Georgian property keeps appearing in the same sentence as regional diversification.

Georgia scored 76 and ranked 12th in the world in 2021. It held a score above 70 from 2012 to 2022 and has been below that line every year since 2023. The 2026 score of 69.6 is an improvement of 0.6 on the previous year, so the recent movement is upward, but the level is still roughly six points and twenty-three places below where the country sat five years ago. A buyer reading only the regional comparison gets a flattering picture; a buyer reading the five-year series gets a more complete one.

The index is built from twelve components covering property rights, judicial effectiveness, government integrity, tax burden, government spending, fiscal health, business freedom, labour freedom, monetary freedom, trade freedom, investment freedom and financial freedom. Georgia's own country page notes that its property rights score sits above the world average and its business freedom score far above it, and gives Georgia a fiscal health reading of 89.1. It is a composite built partly on third-party governance indicators, which means it moves with how institutions are rated, not only with how easy a transaction feels at the notary. It is a useful cross-country screen, not a substitute for local legal advice on a specific purchase.