World Economic Freedom: Britain once ruled eight of the top ten.

The 2011 top ten Index of Economic Freedom just released by the Heritage Foundation.  Canada sits at #6 and the US at #9.

There are ten components like "freedom from corruption" and "government size".

(The rest of the index and search options are available at the link.)

The world map of freedom as of 2010 from the Heritage Foundation:

From Bill Flax at Forbes:  

Many commentators will rightly deplore America’s precipitous descent over the past decade – down to tenth, yet another startling detail leaps from the page. Eight of the ten freest lands were once owned by Britain.

Related: Detail on the Corruption component: Bribe chart