Has anyone else noticed that the freest/most successful countries tend to be the protestant/Germanic countries or at least Protestant influenced? For example the most free countries are New Zealand (protestant/Anglo-Saxon), Switzerland (mixed Protestant Catholic/Germanic), Canada (protestant/Anglo-Saxon), Australia (protestant/Anglo-Saxon), Ireland (protestant influenced/Celtic), Finland (protestant), Netherlands (mixed protestant/Dutch), Denmark (Protestant/Danish), Chile (still trying to figure this one out), and Luxembourg (Germanic).

There’s also other high ranking free/successful countries that had influence from those groups such as Barbados in the Caribbean, Panama (influenced by America) in Central America, Mauritius and Botswana in Africa (both former British colonies), the Asian tigers (Singapore, HK, South Korea, and Taiwan) who were all either former British colonies or American influenced, and Japan (highly influenced by America).

In “American Nations,” by Collin Woodard I read that the Germanic groups (Anglo-Saxons, Nords, Dutch) as well as the Celtic groups (Scots and Irish), uniquely believed rights were inherent and independent of government. There’s also this interesting explanation for the rise of Protestantism amongst the Germanic groups for reasons including language (since Catholicism was all done in Latin), desire for freedom from the Catholic church, and a desire for self government especially amongst the Swiss and Dutch.

Another possible factor could be majority of these countries I’m discussing are cold and that seems to lead to economic success, and could’ve theoretically forced people to get along more which could’ve lead to them being more rights oriented.

Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon and have any particular thoughts on it?