SEJONG, Feb. 3 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is struggling more than its Asian rivals to catch up with economic growth of advanced countries, a private think tank report said Monday.
According to the report by the Center for Economic Catch-up, South Korea's "economic catch-up index" stood at 25 out of 100 points in 2012. Korea's catch-up index ranked 24th out of 100 countries analyzed by the think tank.
The index reflects a country's gross domestic product and its ratio among the world's economy. It's indicative of to what extent a country is catching up with globally leading economies.
"The index demonstrates that South Korea is not a fast catch-up country anymore but a country struggling to keep its status quo or slipping into a downward path," the think tank said.
South Korea was behind many of its main Asian competitors including Singapore, China and Taiwan, which ranked 5th, 7th and 20th in terms of the economic catch-up index, the report showed.
In the "catch-up speed index," which reflects the relative speed at which a country is keeping up with other competitors, Korea also did not fare well by receiving just 46 out of 100 points.
Korea ranked 58th among 100 countries in the category, which was down from the 11th in 2002. The ranking is lower than major emerging countries such as China, Indonesia and Russia which came in 4th, 25th and 27th, respectively, the report showed.