Ukraine’s economic security index in 2025 fell from 35.2 to 33.4 points out of a possible 100 due to the deterioration of social, regulatory, intangible, and institutional factors, according to the results of an annual study announced by the International Institute for Liberty at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine agency in Kyiv on Wednesday.
“Ukraine’s national economic security system is in a dangerous ‘orange’ zone, having deteriorated over the past year.
The main threat to economic security is the functionality, size, and discretion of the state,” the authors of the study conclude.
They specified that the ILI Index is calculated based on an analysis of 59 indicators grouped into eight categories and is applicable to any country with a transition economy.
As part of the study, the index was calculated for nine other countries: Finland, Germany, Israel, and the United States were in the “green” zone with scores ranging from 79.5 to 70.6 points; The Czech Republic, Poland, and Romania, with scores ranging from 69.8 to 54.4 points, were in the “yellow” zone, while Ukraine’s partners in the “orange” group were Turkey and Argentina, but their scores were higher, at 49.8 and 41.9 points, respectively.
The main deterioration this year occurred in the following factors: social – from 57.3 to 42 points; regulatory – from 43.5 to 35 points; intangible – from 54 to 48 points; and legal and institutional – from 53.5 to 48 points.
At the same time, the situation improved in three areas: infrastructure – from 22.1 to 33 points; monetary and financial – from 16.5 to 26 points; and macroeconomic – from 19.9 to 21 points, while tax and budgetary factors remained at the lowest level of 14 points.
“Ukraine is losing even regional competition for advanced technologies and profitable niches in global value chains. Without a change in the relationship between the state and business, the erosion of Ukraine’s comparative advantages after victory in the war will accelerate,” according to the International Institute for Freedom, whose founders include Volodymyr Poperechnyuk, co-owner of Nova Poshta, Serhiy Bashlakov, co-founder of the distribution company MTI, and Yevhen Lemberg, co-founder of the Arikol Group of Companies.
The authors of the study recommend that the government conduct a thorough review of legislation “taking into account scientific conclusions and empirical observations,” reduce the functions, size, format, and mode of the state’s presence in the economy, and abandon the practice of “growth points” and strategic sectors.
They call on the government to deregulate, privatize, implement new fiscal and monetary policies, and conduct an annual audit of the state with clear deadlines for improving economic policy parameters.
The International Liberty Institute positions itself as an independent, non-profit, non-partisan think tank whose activities are aimed at promoting, developing, and strengthening the ideas and values of freedom through expert analysis and practical solutions for the economy and politics. The president of the ILI is Yaroslav Romanchuk, and the director is Mykhailo Kamchatnyi.
Economic Security Index, International Liberty Institute
