Korea has slightly improved its scores in an index of the rich world’s contributions to developing countries this year but still ranked the lowest among 27 donor countries due to its small funding scale, high trade barriers and limited acceptance of immigrants, a U.S. think tank said Friday.

The Washington-based Center for Global Development, specialized in poverty and inequality research, has been compiling the annual Commitment to Development Index since 2003.

It gauges donor countries’ commitment through seven aspects ― aid, trade, investment, migration, environment, security and technology ― based on data from various multinational agencies including the OECD, the World Bank, UNHCR and UNFCCC.

Denmark topped the list with an average score of 7.0, trailed by Norway with 6.6 and Sweden with 6.4.

Seoul has remained at the bottom since its entry to the index in 2008. But its scores have slightly improved from 2.1 in 2008 to 2.4 in 2010 to 2.7 in 2012, figures show.

Despite its brisk investment in and technology transfer to poor countries, the country needs to sharply increase aid, lower export barriers and let in more migrants, said Catherine An, the think tank’s public relations official.

“South Korea also contributes little to international peacekeeping operations and has high greenhouse gas emissions and fishing subsidies,” she said in a statement.

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)