The HFI captures the degree to which people are free to enjoy important rights such as freedom of speech, religion, association, and assembly, and measures freedom of movement, women’s freedoms, crime and violence, and legal discrimination against same-sex relationships. While economic freedom around the world has increased slightly since 2008, the report finds that of the 12 major categories that make up the index, all but five have seen some deterioration, with Religion, Identity and Relationships, and Rule of Law seeing the largest decreases since 2008.

More than 65% of DFC’s capital approved this quarter will be deployed to low and lower-middle income countries, and fragile states. Many of the investments approved this quarter advance DFC’s 2X Women’s Initiative, Portfolio for Impact and Innovation (PI2), Health and Prosperity Initiative, and Connect Africa initiative as well as the Administration’s Prosper Africa and América Crece initiatives.

The 7th edition of the Seedstars Summit event, Seedstars 2020 will occur in Lausanne, Switzerland from March 30 to April 3rd, 2020.