>>Plenty of underdeveloped countries are free markets as well.

All less developed free market economies have been free markets since relatively recently.

The wealthiest economies are generally those that adopted market based rules the earliest, e.g. the Anglosphere and North West Europe, which were free market based since the 19th century.

> Plenty of underdeveloped countries are free markets as well.

Example?

And you're right that democracy is not a requirement for free markets, though they usually go together.