KATHMANDU, Aug 15: Nepal is ranked 97 out of 128 countries in terms of the strength of property rights in this year's International Property Rights Index (IPRI).
The IPRI -- an annual publication of the Property Rights Alliance (PRA) -- is a comparative study that aims to quantify the strength of property rights - both physical and intellectual - and to rank countries accordingly.
Nepal's ranking has shown a slight progress this year with a score of 4.5 compared to a score of 4.2 last year, according to PRA.
Political Environment (LP), Physical Property Rights (PPR) and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) have each grown stronger with a score of 3.92, 5.5 and 3.97 this year compared to 3.4, 5.3 and 3.8 last year, the publication reads, adding that Nepal is, however, still a nation with one of the weakest property rights in the world, landing at the bottom 20 percentile.
IPRI scores and ranks each country based on 10 variables -- in a scale of zero to 10 -- reflecting the state of its Legal and Political Environment (LP), Physical Property Rights (PPR) and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). In Legal and Political Environment, it evaluates Judicial Independence, Rule of Law, Political Stability and Control of Corruption as sub-categories. Similarly, under Physical Property Rights, the sub-categories are Protection of Physical Property Rights, Registering Property and Access to Loans. Likewise, the sub-categories under Intellectual Property Rights are Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, Patent Protection and Copyright Piracy.
Finland is at the top spot this year index with a score of 8.4. Other Scandinavian countries have also performed well with Norway and Sweden ranking fourth and seventh, respectively, with a score of 8.3 and 8.1.
At the bottom of the ranking are Venezuela (2.7), Haiti (2.8), Myanmar (2.8), Bangladesh (2.8), Zimbabwe (3.4), Burundi (3.4), Nigeria (3.6), Moldova (3.7), Pakistan (3.7) and Mauritania (3.7).
Property Rights Alliance has secured the support of 102 other think tanks and policy organizations in 69 countries involved in research, policy, development, education and promotion of property rights in their countries to prepare the report. Samriddhi Foundation is the partner think tank in Nepal for Property Rights Alliance. It has proudly been releasing the International Property Rights Index - one of the most comprehensive international measurements of property rights around the world - in Nepal since 2012. From measuring the status of 70 countries in the first edition, the IPRI has grown to examine 128 countries in its tenth edition in 2016.
The index is expected to be helpful to politicians, economists, academicians, and entrepreneurs in learning about the necessity of protecting property rights around the world for world-wide economic growth, the publication adds.
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