The Heritage Foundation has released its annual list of the world's freest economies and, wouldn't you know it, the Asia-Pacific region is number one. Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand are all on top while the world's largest economy, America's, barely cracks the top ten.

The ranking is based on 10 indicators like government spending, trade and labor market freedom. The top ten are:

  1. Hong Kong
  2. Singapore
  3. Australia
  4. New Zealand
  5. Switzerland
  6. Canada
  7. Chile
  8. Mauritius
  9. Denmark
  10. United States

No members of the financially-troubled Eurozone can be found in the top ten. Ireland, however, comes in the 11th spot.

The United States' overall score is 76.0, down from 76.3 last year. America lost points in all categories of regulatory efficiency, but actually picked up points in government spending.

But, hey, it could be worse. North Korea, Cuba, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Eritrea, Burma, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Turkmenistan and Iran received the ten lowest scores.

[Image via AP]