Georgia has morphed into an authoritarian state over the past two years, but it retains its status as having the most favorable business environment in Eurasia, according to an annual survey published by the Heritage Foundation.
The 2026 Index of Economic Freedom lists Georgia as having a “moderately free” business environment, offering particular praise for low tax rates and efforts to improve regulatory efficiency.Bureaucratically, it is comparatively easy to incorporate a new business in the country.
Georgia placed 35th out of 184 countries evaluated in the survey. “The economy has demonstrated a modest level of resilience.However, institutional weaknesses still require much more committed reform,” the survey notes.
The survey was based on evaluations of what the Heritage Foundation depicts as “12 economic freedoms.” Georgia’s scores in judicial effectiveness, governmental integrity and property rights were all significantly lower than in such areas as tax burden, trade freedom and fiscal health.
Despite the already lower scores concerning the judiciary and government integrity, the Heritage Survey evaluation seems to lag behind the speed of Georgia's authoritarian transformation and its implications for the country’s business community.
A 2025 report, Democracy Under Siege: Georgia’s Autocratic Takeover, published by New York University’s Rule of Law Lab documents how the government has fully subjugated the judicial system to serve the ruling Georgian Dream party’s interests.
It also asserts that the government exerts total control over the National Bank. “The judicial branch now serves as a cornerstone of [Georgian Dream’s] rule, with the judicial oligarchy ensuring alignment with the regime’s interests.” A separate report published by Transparency International-Georgia documented rampant corruption within the Georgian government. “For many years, the country was government by kleptocratic principles,” the report states. “For years, investigative agencies, prosecutors, judges, employees of the State Security Service and Anti-Corruption Bureau have been involved in covering up corruption.” The 2026 Index of Economic Freedom gave Georgia’s neighbors in the Caucasus, Armenia and Azerbaijan, relatively good evaluations.
Armenia ranked 52nd overall and Azerbaijan 67th.In Central Asia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan placed 68th and 86th respectively, all good enough to be categorized as “moderately free.” Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan were listed as “mostly unfree” in the survey, while Turkmenistan found itself in the “repressed” category.