By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff Reporter
South Korea was ranked 19th in 2004 for potential national competitiveness among 50 major countries, up four notches from 23rd in 2000, a Japanese economic institute reported Monday.

The Japan Center for Economic Research (JCER), an independent nonprofit research institute in Tokyo, yesterday elevated South Korea to 19th place after its information technology (IT) industry became the fourth most competitive in the world after the United States, Sweden and Denmark.

The JCER produced the rankings for potential national competitiveness of the 50 nations for the next 10 years based on eight economic indicators: internationalization, corporate competitiveness, education, finance, government, science, public infrastructure and IT.

The institute looked at various factors, including external trade, foreign direct investment, manufacturing productivity, college education, fiscal soundness and inflation.

The United States was forecast to remain the most competitive nation for the next 10 years, leading the world in the fields of science, internationalization and IT, while Singapore came in second, up one notch from the third place in 2000.

Hong Kong dropped to third from its second place four years ago, while Switzerland took fourth place and Norway fifth.

Japan remained unchanged at 15th from 2000, while China’s ranking rose one notch to 36th from 37th, thanks to its rapid economic growth.

Taiwan was ranked 21st, up from 22nd four years ago, thanks to its booming IT industry.

leehs@koreatimes.co.kr