Korea jumped to 19th place in the World Economic Forum's global competitiveness rankings, the first turnaround in five years, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Wednesday.

The WEF Global Competitiveness Report is one of two major international indexes along with the International Institute for Management Development's rankings.

Korea soared from 23rd to 11th place in 2007 but slid back since to 24th place in 2011.

The WEF ranks countries in 12 main categories. Switzerland and Singapore maintained their rankings in first and second place. In Asia, Hong Kong took the highest spot at No. 9 (11th last year), followed by Japan at No. 10 (9th last year). China fell from 26th to 29th.