South Korea ranked as the world's 23rd best country, down four notches from the previous year, an annual US media survey showed Wednesday.

In the "Best Countries" list released by the US News & World Report, Switzerland ranked first among 80 countries, followed by Canada, Britain, Germany and Japan.
 

Though South Korea ranked 23rd in the overall rankings, the Asian country ranked 11th and 13th in the categories of national power and entrepreneurship, respectively.

The United States, which ranked fourth last year, fell to seventh place behind Sweden this year. The US media outlet attributed the decline to the loss of respect for US leadership as a result of last year's "toxic" U.S. election and the "global distaste" for US President Donald Trump.

The survey was conducted on more than 21,000 people from 36 countries after the US presidential election in November. It measures various aspects of the countries, such as their cultural influence, heritage, national power, quality of life and overall business environment. (Yonhap)