Transparency International published its annual survey Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), that ranks 180 countries and territories around the world by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, scoring on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
“The global average remains unchanged for over a decade at just 43 out of 100. More than two-thirds of countries score below 50, while 26 countries have fallen to their lowest scores yet,” says the organisation. As per the 2022 CPI, the countries perceived to be least corrupt, with the highest scores, are Denmark, Finland and New Zealand with scores of 90 and 87 respectively. Ranking at the other end, are Somalia, Syria, and South Sudan.
Western Europe and the European Union had an average score of 66 out 100, being the highest scoring region, while Sub-Saharan Africa scored the lowest, 32 out of 100. Even though Western Europe and the EU “is once again the top-scoring region… progress has stagnated in most countries for more than a decade, as undue influence and fragmented anti-corruption measures have taken their toll,” says the report. The region’s top 5 countries are Denmark 90, Finland 87, Norway 84, Sweden 83 and Switzerland with a score of 82. The countries dropping down the rankings are Hungary, which is considered the most corrupt, with a score of 42, Bulgaria 43 and Romania 46.
The UK has seen its lowest score ever, 73, dropping 7 places from last year. Transparency International called on the UK government to: restore integrity in public life, show leadership and a genuine commitment to transparency and accountability and to protect taxpayers’ money, in order to stop the slide. Overall, this year twenty-six countries – including Qatar 58, which dropped 5 places and Guatemala 24 – have received historic low scores this year.
Source: transparency.org
