Poland last in the EU in the Fraser Institute economic freedom ranking

The weakest ratings were for the size of the public sector and monetary stability, that is, areas related to taxes, government spending and inflation. These are factors that directly affect the cost of running a business.

Poland ranked 65th out of 165 countries and territories in the Economic Freedom of the World 2026 ranking, published at the beginning of October. It scored 7.10 out of a possible 10 points. The ranking is prepared by the Canadian Fraser Institute together with the Cato Institute and a network of partner think tanks, that is, analytical centers. Among the 27 European Union countries, Poland is last. It was outranked by, among others, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece, and outside the EU also by Georgia, Albania and Armenia.

The index assesses five areas: the size of the public sector, the legal system and property rights protection, sound money, freedom to trade internationally, and regulation of business activity. Poland performed worst in the size of government category. This includes, among other things, public spending, subsidies, taxes and the share of state ownership. In this category, Poland ranked 134th in the world. It came 98th in the sound money category, which is measured, among other things, by the level and volatility of inflation. The best result, 31st place, came from freedom to trade internationally.

The ranking is based on data for 2024. It therefore does not take into account changes being introduced in 2026. The Polish analysis of the results was prepared by the Warsaw Enterprise Institute (WEI), a free-market think tank. WEI links the weak result to the direction of economic policy and points to further burdens on businesses:

• the CIT rate (corporate income tax) for banks, raised to 30 percent from 2026,
• the announced increase in excise duty on alcohol by about 15 percent from 2027,
• the planned increase in the sugar tax from 50 to 70 groszy per liter of beverage,
• the reform of the National Labour Inspectorate, which allows inspectors to convert civil-law contracts into employment contracts,
• draft regulations on platform work and short-term rentals.

Tomasz Wróblewski, former president of WEI, commented: “In the Size of Government category, we are consistently scraping the bottom”. Changes to the rules on civil-law contracts and platform work directly affect companies that use these forms of employment. The ranking data come from the Fraser Institute report (opens in a new tab) and from an analysis by the Warsaw Enterprise Institute (opens in a new tab).