South Korea ranked 26th out of 67 countries in the World Talent Ranking 2024 report by the International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland, scoring 63.56 points. This marks a notable improvement, as the country had previously dropped from 34th in 2021 to 38th in 2022, before rebounding to 34th last year and climbing eight places this year.

The ranking scores countries’ development, retention and attraction of a domestic and international highly-skilled workforce to evaluate how well they are achieving long-term value creation.

In the major categories, Korea ranked 26th in “investment and development” (57.25 points) in homegrown talent, 35th in “appeal” (47.86 points), which measures the extent to which the country taps into the overseas talent pool, and 30th in “readiness” (50.64 points), which indicates the availability of skills and competencies in the country’s talent pool.

The country excelled in areas such as “attracting and retaining talent” (sixth) and “statutory minimum wage” (14th). However, it lagged behind in the “cost-of-living index” (57th), “air pollution” (54th) and “worker motivation” (49th).

Korea also performed well in education-related metrics, ranking 5th in “educational assessment - PISA scores” and 8th for “graduates in science and engineering,” though it ranked low in “competent senior managers” at 51st and “labor force growth” at 49th.

Switzerland topped the global ranking, followed by Singapore, Luxembourg, Sweden and Denmark.