South Korea this year moved up five notches in terms of its global competitiveness from a year earlier, helped by improvements in the country's welfare and education systems, as well as its market efficiency, a report showed Wednesday.

According to the annual report by the World Economic Forum (WEF), the country's competitiveness index moved up to 19th place of the 144 countries studied this year.

The WEF, a Geneva-based independent organization, releases the report every year based on surveys of business leaders and the latest economic indicators deemed critical to global competitiveness.

The survey checks three major areas of competitiveness that also consist of 12 intermediate areas and 111 specific categories that include the competitiveness of each country's administration, financial and labor markets, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.

In the administrative sector that also considers government regulations on intellectual property protection and diversion of public funds, South Korea ranked 62nd place, up three notches from 2011.

The country's competitiveness in the welfare and primary education sectors also moved up four notches from 15th last year to 11th place in 2012.

The competitiveness or maturity of its financial market was ranked 71st place, up from 80th place a year earlier.

"Improvements in all three major sectors helped move up the country's place in the global competitiveness list from a year earlier," the finance ministry said in a press release.

"Out of the 12 intermediate areas, the country's place in six areas, including welfare and primary education, market efficiency and financial market maturity, moved up, while its rankings dropped from a year earlier in just two areas of macroeconomics and business innovation."

The report showed Switzerland and Singapore unmoved from their first and second places, respectively, while Finland and Sweden, which were ranked third and fourth in 2011, switched places this year.

The United States' competitiveness ranking dropped two notches from fifth place in 2011 to seventh and Japan also fell one notch from ninth to 10th this year. (Yonhap News)