A recent survey has ranked South Korea's "economic freedom" as 31st in the world.

According to the "Economic Freedom of the World: 2004 Annual Report," produced by Washington-based think tank Cato Institute, Hong Kong topped the ranking for economic freedom, closely followed by Singapore.

The United States tied for third place in the survey with New Zealand, Switzerland and Britain. Other nations in the top ten are Australia, Canada, Ireland and Luxembourg.

South Korea's 31st ranking is one step down from last year's ranking.

The survey listed the key ingredients of economic freedom as being personal choice, voluntary exchange, freedom to compete and protection of person and property.