South Korea has placed 26th in the World Economic Forum's global competitiveness rankings for the third consecutive year.
 
The Ministry of Strategy and Finance on Wednesday said the country's level of innovation was assessed to be of excellent quality, as well as making significant advancements in macroeconomic environment, institutions and infrastructure. 
 
However, the survey found that Korea is one of the few advanced economies that have experienced a general decline in performance for a majority of its pillars of competitiveness. 
 
It said the country is still struggling to improve its labor efficiency and financial market development, which ranked 73rd and 74th place respectively out of 137 countries.
 
South Korea recorded eleventh place in the survey in 2007 but has seen its ranking decline over the years.