The country's international competitiveness in information technology has sharply fallen since last year.

According to the Korea International Trade Association Sunday, Korea ranks eighth in this year's IT competitiveness index by the Economist Intelligence Unit, an international provider of country, industry and management analyses, down five notches from last year.

Korea was among the highest ranking countries in the index, but has been surpassed by Taiwan, Sweden, Denmark, Canada and Australia.

The United States remains at the top of the index, while Japan, which ranked second last year, plunged to 12th.