South Korea is ranked near the middle of a composite index on health and welfare among a group of 34 mostly rich nations, a state-run think tank said Monday.

South Korea placed 20th in the index that analyzed data on more than 26 areas, including employment rate, suicide rate and economic growth rate, in 2010, according to the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs.

In 2008, South Korea was ranked 26th among the 34 member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the institute said.

Switzerland topped the list, followed by the Netherlands, Norway and Denmark.

South Korea was ranked 11th in demand for welfare while the country placed 31st in satisfaction in welfare, according to the institute.

Nam Sang-ho, a research fellow at the institute, called for government efforts to satisfy the people's demand for welfare. He also said the government needs to come up with measures to boost the birthrate while lowering the suicide rate and the smoking rate.

Government data showed that the number of babies born in South Korea increased for the third straight year in 2012 amid the government's continued efforts to raise the country's chronically low birthrate.

According to the data by Statistics Korea, 484,600 babies were born last year, up 13,300, or 2.8 percent, from a year earlier. This marked three straight years that childbirths have increased on a year-on-year basis. (Yonhap News)