placestats

Legal system and property rights (Fraser) vs. Out of school, primary

Fades after adjusting for income

Across 155 countries, Legal system and property rights (Fraser) and Out of school, primary rise and fall together at r = -0.53 (on a scale from −1 to +1, where 0 means no link). Comparing only countries with similar income (GDP per person) shrinks it to -0.18, which could easily be chance (q = 0.38, allowing for the many pairs tested, and allowing for countries in the same region being alike). So the first figure mostly shows richer countries differing from poorer ones, not a link between these two things.

Comparing countries across the middle half of legal system and property rights (Fraser), 4.29 to 6.69 points, out of school, primary is better by 7.84% of primary-age children at the top of that range than the bottom. Comparing only countries with similar national income, the gap is 3.49% of primary-age children.

Link before adjusting (r)-0.527p = 1.9e-12 · 155 countries
After adjusting for national income-0.177p = 0.028 · likely range [-0.33, -0.02]
p, allowing for regions0.186standard error 0.119 · 7 regions
Check for luck (q)0.380across 17,292 pairs

How to read these.r runs from −1 (one goes up as the other goes down) to +1 (they rise together), and 0 means no link. Adjusting for national income means comparing countries with the same GDP per person, so differences in wealth can’t explain the link. Income is used in percentage terms, since an extra $1,000 means more to a poor country than to a rich one. p is how likely a link this strong would be if there were really none. Below 0.05 means it is unlikely to be chance. Very small values are written in short form: 1.1e-32 means a decimal point followed by 31 zeros and then 11, so very close to zero. The likely range is where the true figure probably lies, and a range that crosses zero means the link could easily be chance. Countries in the same region tend to resemble each other, so the third figure allows for that, which gives a fairer p. The standard error is the typical size of the error in r. Finally, testing this many pairs means some will look strong by luck alone. A q below 0.05 means this link is unlikely to be one of those.

Legal system and property rights (Fraser) · rating (0-10)link with income +0.81 · proxy
Out of school, primary · % of primary-age childrenlink with income -0.45 · moderate

“Link with income” is how closely each measure tracks GDP per person across countries, from −1 to +1.

Every country as a dot

Legal system and property rights (Fraser) · rating (0-10) →Out of school, primary · % of primary-age children →1.929.10.00387%43.8%Angola: 3.33 rating (0-10), 36.8% of primary-age childrenAlbania: 5.61 rating (0-10), 0.488% of primary-age childrenUnited Arab Emirates: 7.09 rating (0-10), 0.00387% of primary-age childrenArgentina: 5.15 rating (0-10), 0.735% of primary-age childrenArmenia: 5.86 rating (0-10), 1.08% of primary-age childrenAustralia: 8.69 rating (0-10), 0.124% of primary-age childrenAustria: 8.46 rating (0-10), 1.43% of primary-age childrenAzerbaijan: 5.09 rating (0-10), 0.0266% of primary-age childrenBurundi: 3.35 rating (0-10), 26.5% of primary-age childrenBelgium: 7.64 rating (0-10), 1.66% of primary-age childrenBenin: 4.41 rating (0-10), 9.61% of primary-age childrenBurkina Faso: 3.62 rating (0-10), 34.3% of primary-age childrenBangladesh: 2.9 rating (0-10), 5.86% of primary-age childrenBulgaria: 5.84 rating (0-10), 5.9% of primary-age childrenBahrain: 5.25 rating (0-10), 4.75% of primary-age childrenBahamas, The: 5.57 rating (0-10), 15.9% of primary-age childrenBosnia and Herzegovina: 4.59 rating (0-10), 2.1% of primary-age childrenBelarus: 4.28 rating (0-10), 4.49% of primary-age childrenBelize: 4.09 rating (0-10), 10.7% of primary-age childrenBolivia: 3.95 rating (0-10), 9.25% of primary-age childrenBrazil: 5.34 rating (0-10), 2.19% of primary-age childrenBarbados: 5.62 rating (0-10), 17.6% of primary-age childrenBrunei Darussalam: 5.32 rating (0-10), 3.61% of primary-age childrenBhutan: 6.73 rating (0-10), 10.5% of primary-age childrenBotswana: 6.24 rating (0-10), 0.535% of primary-age childrenCentral African Republic: 2.03 rating (0-10), 37.9% of primary-age childrenCanada: 8.31 rating (0-10), 4.99% of primary-age childrenSwitzerland: 8.98 rating (0-10), 0.143% of primary-age childrenChile: 6.96 rating (0-10), 2.12% of primary-age childrenCote d'Ivoire: 5.13 rating (0-10), 12.6% of primary-age childrenCameroon: 2.86 rating (0-10), 3.76% of primary-age childrenCongo, Rep.: 3.1 rating (0-10), 17.1% of primary-age childrenColombia: 5.06 rating (0-10), 7.32% of primary-age childrenComoros: 3.17 rating (0-10), 20.6% of primary-age childrenCabo Verde: 6.33 rating (0-10), 41.8% of primary-age childrenCosta Rica: 6.62 rating (0-10), 4.49% of primary-age childrenCyprus: 6.7 rating (0-10), 0.425% of primary-age childrenCzechia: 7.64 rating (0-10), 0.809% of primary-age childrenGermany: 8.03 rating (0-10), 0.274% of primary-age childrenDenmark: 9.09 rating (0-10), 0.893% of primary-age childrenDominican Republic: 5.29 rating (0-10), 4.93% of primary-age childrenAlgeria: 3.91 rating (0-10), 1.57% of primary-age childrenEcuador: 4.87 rating (0-10), 4.72% of primary-age childrenEgypt, Arab Rep.: 3.36 rating (0-10), 3.51% of primary-age childrenSpain: 7.36 rating (0-10), 1.24% of primary-age childrenEstonia: 8.01 rating (0-10), 3.39% of primary-age childrenEthiopia: 4.25 rating (0-10), 22.5% of primary-age childrenFinland: 8.88 rating (0-10), 1.77% of primary-age childrenFiji: 4.87 rating (0-10), 2.39% of primary-age childrenFrance: 7.41 rating (0-10), 0.204% of primary-age childrenGabon: 3.73 rating (0-10), 28.8% of primary-age childrenUnited Kingdom: 7.92 rating (0-10), 0.0698% of primary-age childrenGeorgia: 6.09 rating (0-10), 6.17% of primary-age childrenGhana: 5.25 rating (0-10), 4.77% of primary-age childrenGuinea: 3.54 rating (0-10), 14.7% of primary-age childrenGambia, The: 4.91 rating (0-10), 16.9% of primary-age childrenGuinea-Bissau: 2.77 rating (0-10), 30.5% of primary-age childrenGreece: 6.22 rating (0-10), 0.11% of primary-age childrenGuatemala: 4.78 rating (0-10), 8.43% of primary-age childrenGuyana: 5.09 rating (0-10), 18% of primary-age childrenHong Kong SAR, China: 7.57 rating (0-10), 1.4% of primary-age childrenHonduras: 4.11 rating (0-10), 26.6% of primary-age childrenCroatia: 6.2 rating (0-10), 1.81% of primary-age childrenHungary: 6.69 rating (0-10), 2.81% of primary-age childrenIndonesia: 4.54 rating (0-10), 0.877% of primary-age childrenIndia: 5.28 rating (0-10), 0.119% of primary-age childrenIreland: 8.07 rating (0-10), 1.81% of primary-age childrenIran, Islamic Rep.: 3.4 rating (0-10), 0.103% of primary-age childrenIceland: 8.81 rating (0-10), 1.82% of primary-age childrenIsrael: 6.14 rating (0-10), 2.66% of primary-age childrenItaly: 6.74 rating (0-10), 2.06% of primary-age childrenJamaica: 5.83 rating (0-10), 4.34% of primary-age childrenJordan: 4.62 rating (0-10), 1.89% of primary-age childrenJapan: 7.93 rating (0-10), 0.0684% of primary-age childrenKazakhstan: 5.72 rating (0-10), 7.91% of primary-age childrenKenya: 4.73 rating (0-10), 32.9% of primary-age childrenKyrgyz Republic: 4.58 rating (0-10), 2.96% of primary-age childrenCambodia: 3.92 rating (0-10), 3.69% of primary-age childrenKorea, Rep.: 6.81 rating (0-10), 0.0557% of primary-age childrenKuwait: 5.25 rating (0-10), 7.47% of primary-age childrenLao PDR: 4.54 rating (0-10), 10.4% of primary-age childrenLebanon: 3.59 rating (0-10), 22.5% of primary-age childrenLiberia: 3.91 rating (0-10), 38.3% of primary-age childrenSri Lanka: 5.12 rating (0-10), 9.14% of primary-age childrenLesotho: 4.76 rating (0-10), 32.2% of primary-age childrenLithuania: 7.67 rating (0-10), 0.13% of primary-age childrenLuxembourg: 8.63 rating (0-10), 0.256% of primary-age childrenLatvia: 7.61 rating (0-10), 2.74% of primary-age childrenMorocco: 5.31 rating (0-10), 0.471% of primary-age childrenMoldova: 5.77 rating (0-10), 0.463% of primary-age childrenMadagascar: 3.08 rating (0-10), 3.4% of primary-age childrenMexico: 4.27 rating (0-10), 0.363% of primary-age childrenNorth Macedonia: 4.72 rating (0-10), 3.79% of primary-age childrenMali: 3.53 rating (0-10), 34% of primary-age childrenMalta: 6.89 rating (0-10), 2.64% of primary-age childrenMyanmar: 3.27 rating (0-10), 1.41% of primary-age childrenMontenegro: 5.68 rating (0-10), 0.218% of primary-age childrenMongolia: 6.06 rating (0-10), 8.56% of primary-age childrenMozambique: 4.7 rating (0-10), 1% of primary-age childrenMauritania: 3.39 rating (0-10), 11.3% of primary-age childrenMauritius: 6.87 rating (0-10), 0.785% of primary-age childrenMalawi: 4.72 rating (0-10), 2.09% of primary-age childrenMalaysia: 5.95 rating (0-10), 12% of primary-age childrenNamibia: 5.93 rating (0-10), 0.865% of primary-age childrenNiger: 3.62 rating (0-10), 40.4% of primary-age childrenNigeria: 3.63 rating (0-10), 24.3% of primary-age childrenNicaragua: 3.49 rating (0-10), 6.66% of primary-age childrenNetherlands: 8.56 rating (0-10), 0.519% of primary-age childrenNorway: 9.05 rating (0-10), 1.38% of primary-age childrenNepal: 4.83 rating (0-10), 0.762% of primary-age childrenNew Zealand: 9.1 rating (0-10), 2.62% of primary-age childrenOman: 5.7 rating (0-10), 5.76% of primary-age childrenPakistan: 3.74 rating (0-10), 17.9% of primary-age childrenPanama: 5.79 rating (0-10), 7.7% of primary-age childrenPeru: 5.19 rating (0-10), 0.156% of primary-age childrenPhilippines: 4.72 rating (0-10), 11.6% of primary-age childrenPapua New Guinea: 4.72 rating (0-10), 4% of primary-age childrenPoland: 6.76 rating (0-10), 0.0917% of primary-age childrenPortugal: 7.41 rating (0-10), 0.508% of primary-age childrenParaguay: 4.47 rating (0-10), 13.3% of primary-age childrenQatar: 5.6 rating (0-10), 4.62% of primary-age childrenRomania: 6.69 rating (0-10), 15.6% of primary-age childrenRussian Federation: 4.86 rating (0-10), 4.94% of primary-age childrenRwanda: 6.07 rating (0-10), 0.97% of primary-age childrenSaudi Arabia: 6.22 rating (0-10), 0.527% of primary-age childrenSudan: 1.92 rating (0-10), 43.8% of primary-age childrenSenegal: 4.28 rating (0-10), 24.5% of primary-age childrenSingapore: 8.47 rating (0-10), 0.212% of primary-age childrenSierra Leone: 4.61 rating (0-10), 0.888% of primary-age childrenEl Salvador: 4.33 rating (0-10), 8.66% of primary-age childrenSerbia: 5.38 rating (0-10), 3.33% of primary-age childrenSuriname: 4.3 rating (0-10), 16.2% of primary-age childrenSlovak Republic: 6.74 rating (0-10), 1.06% of primary-age childrenSlovenia: 7.11 rating (0-10), 1.45% of primary-age childrenSweden: 8.3 rating (0-10), 0.57% of primary-age childrenEswatini: 3.11 rating (0-10), 3.83% of primary-age childrenSeychelles: 6.44 rating (0-10), 6.8% of primary-age childrenSyrian Arab Republic: 2.51 rating (0-10), 21.8% of primary-age childrenChad: 2.42 rating (0-10), 24.8% of primary-age childrenTogo: 5.03 rating (0-10), 0.639% of primary-age childrenThailand: 5.37 rating (0-10), 0.817% of primary-age childrenTajikistan: 4.2 rating (0-10), 4.15% of primary-age childrenTimor-Leste: 3.9 rating (0-10), 6.88% of primary-age childrenTrinidad and Tobago: 5.18 rating (0-10), 7.16% of primary-age childrenTunisia: 4.54 rating (0-10), 1.09% of primary-age childrenTurkiye: 4.91 rating (0-10), 0.603% of primary-age childrenTanzania: 5.11 rating (0-10), 16.4% of primary-age childrenUganda: 4.66 rating (0-10), 4.12% of primary-age childrenUkraine: 4.57 rating (0-10), 12.9% of primary-age childrenUruguay: 6.09 rating (0-10), 0.0355% of primary-age childrenUnited States: 7.88 rating (0-10), 3.98% of primary-age childrenViet Nam: 5.11 rating (0-10), 1.73% of primary-age childrenSouth Africa: 5.72 rating (0-10), 6.06% of primary-age childrenZambia: 4.96 rating (0-10), 3.51% of primary-age childrenZimbabwe: 3.63 rating (0-10), 10.5% of primary-age childrenCAFCHECMRCPVDNKIRNLBRMMRNERNORSDN

best-fit line line after adjusting

Four ways to measure the link

MethodrpCountries
Standard (Pearson), not adjusted-0.5271.9e-12155
By rank (Spearman), not adjusted-0.5736.7e-15155
Standard (Pearson), adjusted for national income-0.1770.028155
By rank (Spearman), adjusted for national income-0.3050.000155

The rank version uses only each country’s place in line, from lowest to highest, so a few extreme countries count for less. The adjusted and unadjusted versions use the same 155 countries: those that report both measures and GDP per person. So the gap between them comes from the adjustment, not from a change in which countries are counted. Drop in the size of r after adjusting: +0.350 (a minus sign means it grew).

How solid is it?

Leaving out one country at a time, r ranges from -0.220 (without CPV) to -0.153 (without GUY). The bar above shows that range on a scale from −1 to +1, with the solid line at the full result. The single country that moves r most: CPV (-0.043).

Within each region

Countries are not separate, unrelated cases, and neighbors share a lot. A link that holds inside each region is far more believable than one that shows up only when comparing regions.

nr
East Asia & Pacific19-0.10
Europe & Central Asia46-0.21
Latin America & Caribbean24-0.34
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan17-0.27
Sub-Saharan Africa42-0.39

By income third

If the link shows up only in the richest third of countries, it is a feature of rich countries, not a general pattern.

nr
Poorest third52-0.33
Middle third51-0.14
Richest third52-0.46

By largest religious group

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
Christians95-0.24
Muslims40-0.20

By last European coloniser

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
France23-0.30
Never a European colony17+0.24
Spain18-0.07
United Kingdom47-0.26

By official ideology

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
Nationalist23-0.00
No strong official ideology106-0.28

By party system

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
A few parties banned22-0.24
No parties banned114-0.24

Without outliers (countries far outside the middle half of countries on either measure, by more than one and a half times the width of that middle half): r = -0.304 after dropping 14 countries.

Two series, one country

Both measures over the years for one country you pick. The two charts are stacked so they share only the years along the bottom.

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Over time, within countries

Everything above compares countries with each other at one moment. This section compares each country only with itself over 35years. So a link here can’t come from anything about a country that stays the same, such as its history, geography, institutions or culture.

Within countries over time, there is no link that is clearly more than chance (r = -0.063, comparing each country only with itself over the years, and each year only with the same year elsewhere). Whatever the cross-country picture shows, countries whose legal system and property rights (Fraser) moved did not tend to see their out of school, primary move with it.

Across countries (adjusted)-0.177for comparison
Within countries-0.183each country vs itself
…and vs the same year elsewhere-0.063q = 0.505 · 151 countries
Year-on-year changes+0.006q = 0.899
Read with care.
  • Almost all of this indicator's variation is between countries, not within them, so the within-country estimate rests on a small part of the data.

2,838 country-years (one country in one year), 151 countries, 1990–2024, about 19 years each on average. Share of the variation that happens within countries over time: 3% for Legal system and property rights (Fraser), 25% for Out of school, primary. The margins of error allow for each country appearing many times, and for each year’s value being close to the year before.

Year-to-year changes are a cautious test, not a final answer. Looking only at changes from one year to the next removes each country’s own trends. But it also makes measurement mistakes louder, which pulls the results toward zero. A near-zero result here is weak evidence of no link, not proof.

With one measure years behind the other

0.20−0.2-100+10years Out of school, primary trails Legal system and property rights (Fraser) →lag -10: r = -0.129 (n = 1,948)lag -9: r = -0.117 (n = 2,041)lag -8: r = -0.116 (n = 2,126)lag -7: r = -0.114 (n = 2,228)lag -6: r = -0.109 (n = 2,318)lag -5: r = -0.093 (n = 2,436)lag -4: r = -0.106 (n = 2,524)lag -3: r = -0.104 (n = 2,615)lag -2: r = -0.093 (n = 2,702)lag -1: r = -0.094 (n = 2,785)lag +0: r = -0.063 (n = 2,838)lag +1: r = -0.079 (n = 2,769)lag +2: r = -0.076 (n = 2,667)lag +3: r = -0.075 (n = 2,574)lag +4: r = -0.120 (n = 2,505)lag +5: r = -0.093 (n = 2,412)lag +6: r = -0.039 (n = 2,329)lag +7: r = -0.034 (n = 2,215)lag +8: r = 0.007 (n = 2,109)lag +9: r = -0.003 (n = 2,020)lag +10: r = 0.037 (n = 1,921)

Same year (lag 0): -0.063. A peak away from zero does not show which comes first. These series change slowly — this year’s value is close to last year’s. That makes the curve smooth and nearly symmetric, whatever produced the data. Even a sharp peak at one lag (a gap of some years) would not prove that one measure changes the other.

This curve peaks at the edge of the window (lag -10), so it is still drifting where the search stops. That pattern usually reflects a slow trend left over in the data, not a link with real timing. The peak value should not be read as the “true” link at the right lag.

The data


rating (0-10)
% of primary-age children		Years
New Zealand NZL9.12.62%2024
Denmark DNK9.090.893%2024
Norway NOR9.051.38%2024
Switzerland CHE8.980.143%2024
Finland FIN8.881.77%2024
Iceland ISL8.811.82%2024, 2023
Australia AUS8.690.124%2024
Luxembourg LUX8.630.256%2024
Netherlands NLD8.560.519%2024, 2023
Singapore SGP8.470.212%2024, 2023
Austria AUT8.461.43%2024
Canada CAN8.314.99%2024, 2023
Sweden SWE8.30.57%2024
Ireland IRL8.071.81%2024, 2022
Germany DEU8.030.274%2024

Gwartney, J., Lawson, R., Murphy, R. and others, Economic Freedom of the World: 2026 Annual Report, Fraser Institute. Data from the EFW panel dataset (efotw-2026-master-index-data-for-researchers-iso.xlsx).
World Bank, World Development Indicators

Sources

Legal system and property rights (Fraser)

Economic freedom, area 2, legal system and property rights (Fraser Institute)

Fraser Institute · No licence stated; used with citation · updated annual

Whether courts are independent and fair, contracts are enforced, property is protected and the police are reliable, from 0 to 10. It draws on some of the same expert sources as other rule-of-law measures, so expect it to track them closely.

Out of school, primary

Children out of school (% of primary school age)

UNESCO Institute for Statistics · CC BY 4.0 · updated quarterly

Children of primary-school age not enrolled at any level. Treated as measuring the same thing as gross primary enrolment, which is on the site. They are two ways of asking whether children are in school, so their agreement is not a finding.

How this was computed

Data used: most recent value in 2010-2025; values come from 2010–2025. To adjust for income, each measure is first predicted from GDP per person (in percentage terms, on a log scale) with a straight-line fit. Only what is left over is then compared. This is called a partial correlation. The line is drawn the standard way (ordinary least squares), which picks the line that comes closest to all the countries at once. The error margins allow for countries in the same region resembling each other, using 7 World Bank regions. The q-value corrects for testing all 17,292 pairs at once, using the Benjamini–Hochberg method. Underlying data last updated V-Dem v16; V-Party v2. How the country data works · explore Legal system and property rights (Fraser) and Out of school, primary

This page shows that two measures go together. It does not show that Legal system and property rights (Fraser) changes Out of school, primary, or the reverse. These figures also describe countries, not individual people. See the ecological fallacy.

More links with Legal system and property rights (Fraser) or Out of school, primary