PRA Releases 2022 International Property Rights Index
by Property Rights Alliance Sep 7, 2022

Washington D.C. – Today the Property Rights Alliance released the 2022 International Property Rights Index (IPRI), the only comparative global index that ranks the strength of both physical and intellectual property rights as well as the legal and political environments that contain them. PRA partnered with 128 think tanks in 74 countries to emphasize that property rights are the building blocks for a just, prosperous, and free society. The United States of America fell seven spots from last year to rank 13th for the 2022 IPRI, though it continues to have a notable lead on the intellectual property rights (IPR) component.

The IPRI Global Launch event will take place on September 7th, 2022 at 12:35 (CET) during the 31st Economic Forum in Karpacz, Poland. The event will be live-streamed here.

According to the 2022 Hernando de Soto Fellow and IPRI author Dr. Sary Levy-Carciente, a robust IP framework includes “knowledge-sharing, engaging in technology, licensing arrangements, demand for better contracts, clearly defining IP rights, promoting a common ecosystem, and sharing efforts and rewards.” IP rights serve as the key to unlocking hidden potentials of society during challenging times.

The three countries that achieved the highest property rights protections are Finland, Singapore, and Switzerland, according to the 2022 International Property Rights Index.

Hernando de Soto, renowned economist and President of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy highlighted that this report “reinforces the principle that property rights positively correlate to overall quality of life and economic strength.” He continued, “I am privileged to present the International Property Rights Index and to work alongside the Property Rights Alliance in their commitment to fostering economic growth and democracy by the protection of intellectual and physical property rights.”

Property rights are human rights. Strong frameworks for property rights preserve human dignity, innovation, and freedom while protecting against abuses of government power. The 129 countries include in the 2022 IPRI represent 93.91% of the world population and 98.12% of global GDP.

Executive Director of the Property Rights Alliance and Editor of the Index, Lorenzo Montanari, commented on the release, “During this pandemic time, now more than ever it is evident how innovation and intellectual property rights have played a crucial role in discovering vaccines and finding solutions to COVID-19. Property rights are not only one of the most important pillars of free society but also human rights as stated in Article 17 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The 2022 Index will serve as an important tool for policymakers and business communities to understand how the three main components of the property rights ecosystem (Legal and Political Environment, Physical Property Rights, and Intellectual Property Rights) interact to attract investment and nurture healthy institutions. As the Nobel Laureate Friedrich von Hayek stated, ‘The system of private property is the most important guaranty of freedom.’”

Key Findings: 

The average score of the sample of 129 countries in the 2022 IPRI is 5.19 (Max: 8.17; Min: 1.77) where the Legal and Political (LP) component was the weakest component with a score of 5.06, followed by the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) component with a score of 5.24. The Physical Property Rights (PPR) component was the strongest component, with a score of 5.27.

Finland (8.17), Singapore (7.97), and Switzerland (7.94) achieved the highest property rights protections. Last year, Switzerland, Singapore, and New Zealand topped the rankings, showing significant progress by Finland. New Zealand still leads the LP component (8.76), while Finland leads the PPR component (8.53) and the United States holds a commanding lead in the IPR component (8.73). Despite the U.S.-China trade war which hinged on IP violations within the People’s Republic of China, the PRC fell to 6.28 in the IPR component, a slight decrease from last year.

Overall, the average global score of the IPRI, as well as the LP and PPR components, continued its downward trend for the fourth year in a row. The global IPRI decreased by 7.3% this year as compared to last year. The IPR component remained steady since last year, while the LP component fell by 0.4% and the PPR component fell by a large 18.7%. The decrease of the IPRI and its components, unfortunately, shows that instead of embracing property rights in the face of unprecedented crises, these rights were instead attacked via government overreach. Now more than ever, property rights are needed to ensure that individuals maintain their right to self-ownership and for talent, assets, and research to translate into innovative solutions. Property rights are human rights that protect individual liberty.

The IPRI in its 16th edition also includes six case studies from our partnering think tanks:

  • “Collateral Damage: Property Rights as a Casualty of War” by Robert Tyler, Senior Policy Advisor, New Direction – The Foundation for European Reform, Belgium
  • “The Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in Malaysia: A Case Study” by Prof. Sitara Karim and Dr. Carmelo Ferlito, Center for Market Education, Malaysia
  • “A Closer Look at How Intellectual Property Rights and Property Protection Led to the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine—and How the World Trade Organization’s Assault on IP Threatens Future Innovation” by Pieter Cleppe, Editor-in-Chief of Brussels Report, Belgium
  • “Property Rights in the Constitutional Proposal by the Constitutional Convention in Chile” by Natalia Gonzalez, Libertad y Desarrollo, Chile
  • “Property Titles of Non-Renewable Natural Resources in Mexico: An Alternative to Resource Nationalism” by Dr. Roberto Salinas León, Martin Rodriguez Rodriguez, and Carlos Navarro, Center for Latin America—Atlas Network, Mexico
  • “Land Invasions and Property Theft: A History of Lack of Access to Justice in Guatamela” by Maria Andrea Caceres and Jose Fernando Orellana, Observatorio de Derechos de Propiedad de Guatemala, Guatemala

The complete dataset with country profiles and a country comparison tool can be found here: www.internationalpropertyrightsindex.org.

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