South Korea ranked 15th in this year’s global competitiveness scale, scoring top in macroeconomic stability and ICT adoption categories, said the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Wednesday.

According to the global competitiveness report on 140 countries released by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Korea moved up two notches to the 15th with a score of 78.8 out of perfect 100. In a different rating system, Korea came at 26th last year.

Korea topped two categories - macroeconomic stability and ICT adoption - and was among the highest 30 in 10 categories including infrastructure, health, skills and financial system.

The United States came first, followed by Singapore and Germany. Others in the top 10 are Switzerland, Japan, Netherlands, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Denmark.

The global competitiveness report is a yearly report published by the WEF. The 2018 edition of the report used an overhauled methodology that focuses more on factors like idea generation and agility to reflect changes in the age of the fourth industrial revolution.

By Yoon Won-sup and Lee Ha-yeon

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