South Africa has fallen another five places in the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index (WEF GCI), placing 67 out of 140 countries.

The 2018 WEF GCI, released on Wednesday, scores 140 economies using 98 indicators organised into 12 pillars – institutions, infrastructure, ICT adoption, macro-economic stability, health, skills, product market, labour market, financial system, market size, business dynamism, and innovation capability.

The United States ranks number one overall, scoring 85.6 out of 100, followed by Singapore at 83.5, and Germany with 82.8.

Half of sub-Saharan economies included in the Index are among the 20 worst performing economies.

Mauritius leads the pack in Africa, ranking 49th at 63.7 out of 100, ahead of South Africa and "nearly 30 points and 91 places ahead of Chad", which ranks 140th at 35.5 out of 100.

It's not all gloom and doom for South Africa, with the country ranking 18th for its financial system and 35th for its market size. 

Areas to improve include health where SA ranked 125th, mainly due to a short life expectancy.

The country performed well in terms of business dynamism (56th) and growth of disruptive businesses (39th), but it still lagged behind in terms of how long it takes to start a business (128th).