Germany's attractiveness as an investment location has fallen four places to 18th of 21 in a ranking of industrial economies by economic research institute ZEW, newspaper Augsburger Allgemeine reported on Monday.

Rising energy costs and ongoing labour shortages have compounded existing problems of high taxes, complex bureaucracy and slow pace of innovation, the study said, bumping Germany down the list with only Hungary, Spain and Italy below it.

The Mannheim-based institute ranked the United States, Canada, Sweden and Switzerland for reasons from cheaper energy in the U.S. and Sweden to access to capital and a well-functioning state in Switzerland.

(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee)