Ireland has slipped one place in a global ranking of the best countries in the world for protecting physical and intellectual property rights but still comes in 19th place overall.

Finland is ranked in top spot in the highly regarded International Property Rights Index (IPRI) with an 8.3 rating. Norway, New Zealand, Luxembourg and Singapore round out the top-five countries, while Burma comes in last place with a 2.5 rating.

Ireland, previously ranked 18th globally in 2013 and 2014, achieves a 7.4 score this year, placing it 19th out of 129 countries surveyed and 11th out of 19 western European states.

The IPRI index, which began in 2007 and is financed by Americans for Tax Reform's Property Rights Alliance, is one of seven sources used by business publication Forbes to determine the best countries in which to do business.

The index scores and ranks countries based on the state of their legal and political environment, and physical and intellectual property rights.

Ireland was placed in the 13th spot globally this year for its legal and political environment, with an overall ranking of eighth. Within the sub-category, Ireland came in sixth place with a score of 8.8 for “judicial independence”. It also ranks 13th for “rule of law”, 18th for “control of corruption” and 27th for “political stability.”

The country was in 17th place for intellectual property rights with an overall score of 7.9. Within this sub-index, the country was third in the world for “patent protection”, 14th for “protection of IP rights”, and 19th for “copyright protection”.

Ireland performed less spectacularly on physical property rights, coming in 40th out of 129 countries. It was ranked in 13th place for protection of physical property, 72nd for “registering property” and 103rd for “access to loans”.

“Countries that institute and protect a system of property rights experience significant economic growth and prosperity compared to countries that fail to do so,” said Dr Hernando de Soto, who wrote the introduction to this year’s report.

“While the connection between economic growth and property rights is understood now more than ever, universal improvements must be made in order to keep up with an increasingly regulated global economy.”