South Korea scored 71.02 out of 100 points, up 0.9 point from 2013, according to the index.
The country earned a score of 92.8 and 80.0 in corporate and financial freedom, respectively. But it scored 47.8 in labor freedom and 54.0 in transparency in officialdom.
Among 186 countries surveyed, Hong Kong and Singapore placed first and second for the 19th consecutive year in 2014, respectively, while Australia, came in third.
The United States ranked 12th, whereas Japan came in 25th. Taiwan moved up three notches to 17th in 2014 from the previous year.
North Korea was ranked the lowest with a score of 1, compared with 1.5 recorded in 2013.
Among the 43 economies in the Asia-Pacific region, South Korea ranked eighth, while Taiwan ranked fifth with a score of 73.9.
“Taiwan has recorded uninterrupted advancements in economic freedom since 2009 and continues to be ranked one of the world’s 20 freest economies,” the 2014 index said. “With emphasis on services and high-technology manufacturing, Taiwan’s economy is one of the richest in Asia,” it said.
“Taiwan has maintained well-developed legal and commercial infrastructure in the private sector,” the index said, adding that the country made significant improvements in financial and investment freedom, despite small declines in other indicators.
But the index highlighted a lack of flexibility in the local labor market, placing Taiwan 126th. Corruption was also singled out as a problem.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com