MENA countries reported a mixed performance in the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom prepared by the US-based Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal as some states improved their rankings and others lost several spots. The score is on a scale from 0 (least free) to 100 (most free). Bahrain remained the region's best performer ranking 13th worldwide out of 178 countries. Bahrain’s economic freedom score is 75.1. Its overall score decreased 0.4 point due to slight deteriorations in labour freedom, trade freedom, and freedom from corruption.
Bahrain, however, continues to be the freest economy in the MENA region, and its economic freedom score is well above the world average. The UAE ranked second in MENA and 28th worldwide. Egypt and Algeria bottomed the list at the 135th and 146th places respectively. No rankings or scores were available for Iraq and Syria.
Saudi Arabia topped the list of gainers, improving 1.9 points from the 2013 index despite ranking 77th. Egypt was the biggest loser, dropping 1.9 points.
| MENA's economic freedom index for 2014 | |||
| Country | Ranking | Score | Change from 2013 |
| Bahrain | 13 | 75,1 | -0,4 |
| UAE | 28 | 71,4 | 0,3 |
| Qatar | 30 | 71,2 | -0,1 |
| Jordan | 39 | 69,2 | -1,2 |
| Oman | 48 | 67,4 | -0,7 |
| Kuwait | 76 | 62,3 | -0,8 |
| Saudi Arabia | 77 | 62,2 | 1,6 |
| Lebanon | 96 | 59,4 | -0,1 |
| Morocco | 103 | 58,3 | -1,3 |
| Tunisia | 109 | 57,3 | 0,3 |
| Egypt | 135 | 52,9 | -1,9 |
| Algeria | 146 | 50,8 | 1,2 |
| Iraq | na | na | na |
| Syria | na | na | na |
| Source: Heritage Foundation | |||
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