Hernando De Soto, the greatest proponent of physical property rights, stated in the report that property rights are crucial in establishing a climate conducive to economic prosperity and freedom within a country.

As such, the developed nations around the world have found the importance of property rights and ensured their protection. Therefore, western countries top the list of scores for strong property rights protection.

Conversely, countries that have weak property rights also struggle to develop strong, innovative economic markets. Pakistan’s record on intellectual property rights has never been satisfactory. This is the reason that its score of 3.2 out of 10 is very low.

The United States and Pakistan have been negotiating preferential trade agreement for the last many years. Each time, the US government asks Pakistan to improve its record on the protection of intellectual property rights.

In this sub index, Pakistan’s score was 3.7 and the ranking 103 out of 128 countries. On patent protection, the score was 4.5 and the rank 100 out of 128 economies. Copy rights protection scored the lower in this sub index, at only 1.5 in all parameters. Pakistan ranks 96 in this parameter.

The total IPRI scores of the country increased by only 0.1, changing it to 3.7 out of 10. This placed Pakistan 18th in Asia and Oceania, and 121st in the world. Pakistan is classified by the IMF as part of the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan (MENAP) group and by the World Bank as a lower-middle income country.It is a member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.

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