Transparency International (TI) has published the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) since 1995, annually ranking countries "by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys."^[1] The CPI generally defines corruption as "the misuse of public power for private benefit".^[2]

The CPI currently ranks 176 countries "on a scale from 100 (very clean) to 0 (highly corrupt)".^[3]

Methods

Political corruption
Concepts
Bribery Cronyism Kleptocracy Economics of corruption Electoral fraud Legal plunder Nepotism Slush fund Political scandal
Corruption by country
Europe Albania Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belgium Bosnia Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Finland France Germany Georgia Greece Iceland Ireland Italy Kosovo Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Moldova Montenegro Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Ukraine Asia Afghanistan Bahrain Bangladesh Cambodia China India Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel Jordan Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Malaysia Myanmar North Korea Pakistan Philippines Singapore South Korea Sri Lanka Tajikistan Thailand Turkmenistan Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen Africa Angola Botswana Cameroon Congo Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Ghana Guinea-Bissau Kenya Liberia Mauritius Morocco Nigeria Senegal Somalia South Africa South Sudan Sudan Tanzania Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe North America Canada Cuba Haiti Mexico Nicaragua United States South America Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Paraguay Peru Venezuela Oceania and the Pacific Australia New Zealand Papua New Guinea Transcontinental countries Russia Turkey
v t e

Transparency International commissioned the University of Passau's Johann Graf Lambsdorff to produce the CPI.^[4]

The 2012 CPI takes into account 13 different surveys and assessments from 12 different institutions.^[5] The 13 surveys/assessments are either business people opinion surveys or performance assessments from a group of analysts.^[2] Early CPIs used public opinion surveys.^[6] The institutions are:

• the African Development Bank
• the Bertelsmann Foundation
• the Economist Intelligence Unit
• Freedom House
• Global Insight
• International Institute for Management Development
• Political and Economic Risk Consultacy
• The PRS Group, Inc.,
• the World Economic Forum
• the World Bank
• the World Justice Project^[7]

Countries need to be evaluated by at least three sources to appear in the CPI.^[6] The CPI measures perception of corruption due to the difficulty of measuring absolute levels of corruption.^[8]

Validity

A study published in 2002 found a "very strong significant correlation" between the Corruption Perceptions Index and two other proxies for corruption: black market activity and overabundance of regulation.

All three metrics also had a highly significant correlation with real gross domestic product per capita (RGDP/Cap); the Corruption Perceptions Index correlation with RGDP/Cap was the strongest, explaining over three fourths of the variance.^[9] (Note that a lower index on this scale reflects greater corruption, so that countries with higher RGDPs generally had less corruption.)

Economic implications

Research papers published in 2007 and 2008 examined the economic consequences of corruption perception, as defined by the CPI. The researchers found a correlation between a higher CPI and higher long-term economic growth,^[10] as well as an increase in GDP growth of 1.7% for every unit increase in a country's CPI score.^[11] Also shown was a power-law dependence linking higher CPI score to higher rates of foreign investment in a country.

Rankings

2012–2016

Legend:

Scores	Less corrupt					More corrupt
	100–090	089–080	079–070	069–060	059–050	049–040	039-030	029–020	019–010	009–000

2016 Corruption Perceptions Index table^[12][13]

Rank	Country or Territory	2016[14]		2015[15]		2014[16]		2013[17]		2012[18]
		Score	Change in score from previous year	Score	Change in score from previous year	Score	Change in score from previous year	Score	Change in score from previous year	Score
1	Denmark	90	−1	91	−1	92	+1	91	+1	90
1	New Zealand	90	−1	91	0	91	0	91	+1	90
3	Finland	89	−1	90	+1	89	0	89	−1	90
4	Sweden	88	−1	89	+2	87	−2	89	+1	88
5	Switzerland	86	0	86	0	86	+1	85	−1	86
6	Norway	85	−2	87	+1	86	0	86	+1	85
7	Singapore	84	−1	85	+1	84	−2	86	−1	87
8	Netherlands	83	−4	87	+4	83	0	83	−1	84
9	Canada	82	−1	83	+2	81	0	81	−3	84
10	Germany	81	0	81	+2	79	+1	78	−1	79
10	Luxembourg	81	0	81	−1	82	+2	80	0	80
10	United Kingdom	81	0	81	+3	78	+2	76	+2	74
13	Australia	79	0	79	−1	80	−1	81	−4	85
14	Iceland	78	−1	79	0	79	+1	78	−4	82
15	Belgium	77	0	77	+1	76	+1	75	0	75
15	Hong Kong	77	+2	75	+1	74	−1	75	−2	77
17	Austria	75	−1	76	+4	72	+3	69	0	69
18	United States	74	−2	76	+2	74	+1	73	0	73
19	Ireland	73	−2	75	+1	74	+2	72	+3	69
20	Japan	72	−3	75	−1	76	+2	74	0	74
21	Uruguay	71	−3	74	+1	73	0	73	+1	72
22	Estonia	70	0	70	+1	69	+1	68	+4	64
23	France	69	−1	70	+1	69	−2	71	0	71
24	Bahamas	66	0		0	71	0	71	0	71
24	Chile	66	−4	70	−3	73	+2	71	−1	72
24	United Arab Emirates	66	−4	70	0	70	+1	69	+1	68
27	Bhutan	65	0	65	0	65	+2	63	0	63
28	Israel	64	+3	61	+1	60	−1	61	+1	60
29	Poland	62	0	62	+1	61	+1	60	+2	58
29	Portugal	62	−1	63	0	63	+1	62	−1	63
31	Barbados	61	0		0	74	−1	75	−1	76
31	Qatar	61	−10	71	+2	69	+1	68	0	68
31	Slovenia	61	+1	60	+2	58	+1	57	−4	61
31	Taiwan	61	−1	62	+1	61	0	61	0	61
35	Botswana	60	−3	63	0	63	−1	64	−1	65
35	Saint Lucia	60	0		0		0	71	0	71
35	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	60	0		0	67	+5	62	0	62
38	Cape Verde	59	+4	55	−2	57	−1	58	−2	60
38	Dominica	59	0		0	58	0	58	0	58
38	Lithuania	59	−2	61	+3	58	+1	57	+3	54
41	Brunei	58	0		0		0	60	+5	55
41	Costa Rica	58	+3	55	+1	54	+1	53	−1	54
41	Spain	58	0	58	−2	60	+1	59	−6	65
44	Georgia	57	+5	52	0	52	+3	49	−3	52
44	Latvia	57	+2	55	0	55	+2	53	+4	49
46	Grenada	56	0		0		0		0
47	Cyprus	55	−6	61	−2	63	0	63	−3	66
47	Czech Republic	55	−1	56	+5	51	+3	48	−1	49
47	Malta	55	−1	56	+1	55	−1	56	−1	57
50	Mauritius	54	+1	53	−1	54	+2	52	−5	57
50	Rwanda	54	0	54	+5	49	−4	53	0	53
52	South Korea	53	−3	56	+1	55	0	55	−1	56
53	Namibia	52	−1	53	+4	49	+1	48	0	48
54	Slovakia	51	0	51	+1	50	+3	47	+1	46
55	Croatia	49	−2	51	+3	48	0	48	+2	46
55	Malaysia	49	−1	50	−2	52	+2	50	+1	49
57	Hungary	48	−3	51	−3	54	0	54	−1	55
57	Jordan	48	−5	53	+4	49	+4	45	−3	48
57	Romania	48	+2	46	+3	43	0	43	−1	44
60	Cuba	47	0	47	+1	46	0	46	−2	48
60	Italy	47	+3	44	+1	43	0	43	+1	42
62	São Tomé and Príncipe	46	+4	42	0	42	0	42	0	42
62	Saudi Arabia	46	−6	52	+3	49	+3	46	+2	44
64	Montenegro	45	+1	44	+2	42	−2	44	+3	41
64	Oman	45	0	45	0	45	−2	47	0	47
64	Senegal	45	+1	44	+1	43	+2	41	+5	36
64	South Africa	45	+1	44	0	44	+2	42	−1	43
64	Suriname	45	+9	36	0	36	0	36	−1	37
69	Greece	44	−2	46	+3	43	+3	40	+4	36
70	Bahrain	43	−8	51	+2	49	+1	48	−3	51
70	Ghana	43	−4	47	−1	48	+2	46	+1	45
72	Burkina Faso	42	+4	38	0	38	0	38	0	38
72	Serbia	42	+2	40	−1	41	−1	42	+3	39
72	Solomon Islands	42	0		0		0		0
75	Bulgaria	41	0	41	−2	43	+2	41	0	41
75	Kuwait	41	−8	49	+5	44	+1	43	−1	44
75	Tunisia	41	+3	38	−2	40	−1	41	0	41
75	Turkey	41	−1	42	−3	45	−5	50	+1	49
79	Belarus	40	+8	32	+1	31	+2	29	−2	31
79	Brazil	40	+2	38	−5	43	+1	42	−1	43
79	China	40	+3	37	+1	36	−4	40	+1	39
79	India	40	+2	38	0	38	+2	36	0	36
83	Albania	39	+3	36	+3	33	+2	31	−2	33
83	Bosnia and Herzegovina	39	+1	38	−1	39	−3	42	0	42
83	Jamaica	39	−2	41	+3	38	0	38	0	38
83	Lesotho	39	−5	44	−5	49	0	49	+4	45
87	Mongolia	38	−1	39	0	39	+1	38	+2	36
87	Panama	38	−1	39	+2	37	+2	35	−3	38
87	Zambia	38	0	38	0	38	0	38	+1	37
90	Colombia	37	0	37	0	37	+1	36	0	36
90	Indonesia	37	+1	36	+2	34	+2	32	0	32
90	Liberia	37	0	37	0	37	−1	38	−3	41
90	Macedonia	37	−5	42	−3	45	+1	44	+1	43
90	Morocco	37	+1	36	−3	39	+2	37	0	37
95	Argentina	36	+4	32	−2	34	0	34	−1	35
95	Benin	36	−1	37	−2	39	+3	36	0	36
95	El Salvador	36	−3	39	0	39	+1	38	0	38
95	Kosovo	36	+3	33	0	33	0	33	−1	34
95	Maldives	36	0		0		0		0
95	Sri Lanka	36	−1	37	−1	38	+1	37	−3	40
101	Gabon	35	+1	34	−3	37	+3	34	−1	35
101	Niger	35	+1	34	−1	35	+1	34	+1	33
101	Peru	35	−1	36	−2	38	0	38	0	38
101	Philippines	35	0	35	−3	38	+2	36	+2	34
101	Thailand	35	−3	38	0	38	+3	35	−2	37
101	Timor-Leste	35	+7	28	0	28	−2	30	−3	33
101	Trinidad and Tobago	35	−4	39	+1	38	0	38	−1	39
108	Algeria	34	−2	36	0	36	0	36	+2	34
108	Egypt	34	−2	36	−1	37	+5	32	0	32
108	Ethiopia	34	+1	33	0	33	0	33	0	33
108	Guyana	34	+5	29	−1	30	+3	27	−1	28
108	Ivory Coast	34	+2	32	0	32	+5	27	−2	29
113	Armenia	33	−2	35	−2	37	+1	36	+2	34
113	Bolivia	33	−1	34	−1	35	+1	34	0	34
113	Vietnam	33	+2	31	0	31	0	31	0	31
116	Mali	32	−3	35	+3	32	+4	28	−6	34
116	Pakistan	32	+2	30	+1	29	+1	28	+1	27
116	Tanzania	32	+2	30	−1	31	−2	33	−2	35
116	Togo	32	0	32	+3	29	0	29	−1	30
120	Dominican Republic	31	−2	33	+1	32	+3	29	−3	32
120	Ecuador	31	−1	32	−1	33	−2	35	+3	32
120	Malawi	31	0	31	−2	33	−4	37	0	37
123	Azerbaijan	30	+1	29	0	29	+1	28	+1	27
123	Djibouti	30	−4	34	0	34	−2	36	0	36
123	Honduras	30	−1	31	+2	29	+3	26	−2	28
123	Laos	30	+5	25	0	25	−1	26	+5	21
123	Mexico	30	−5	35	0	35	+1	34	0	34
123	Moldova	30	−3	33	−2	35	0	35	−1	36
123	Paraguay	30	+3	27	+3	24	0	24	−1	25
123	Sierra Leone	30	+1	29	−2	31	+1	30	−1	31
131	Iran	29	+2	27	0	27	+2	25	−3	28
131	Kazakhstan	29	+1	28	−1	29	+3	26	−2	28
131	Nepal	29	+2	27	−2	29	−2	31	+4	27
131	Russia	29	0	29	+2	27	−1	28	0	28
131	Ukraine	29	+2	27	+1	26	+1	25	−1	26
136	Guatemala	28	0	28	−4	32	+3	29	−4	33
136	Kyrgyzstan	28	0	28	+1	27	+3	24	0	24
136	Lebanon	28	0	28	+1	27	−1	28	−2	30
136	Myanmar	28	+6	22	+1	21	0	21	+6	15
136	Nigeria	28	+2	26	−1	27	+2	25	−2	27
136	Papua New Guinea	28	+3	25	0	25	0	25	0	25
142	Guinea	27	+2	25	0	25	+1	24	0	24
142	Mauritania	27	−4	31	+1	30	0	30	−1	31
142	Mozambique	27	−4	31	0	31	+1	30	−1	31
145	Bangladesh	26	+1	25	0	25	−2	27	+1	26
145	Cameroon	26	−1	27	0	27	+2	25	−1	26
145	Gambia	26	−2	28	−1	29	+1	28	−6	34
145	Kenya	26	+1	25	0	25	−2	27	0	27
145	Madagascar	26	−2	28	0	28	0	28	−4	32
145	Nicaragua	26	−1	27	−1	28	0	28	−1	29
151	Tajikistan	25	−1	26	+3	23	+1	22	0	22
151	Uganda	25	0	25	−1	26	0	26	−3	29
153	Comoros	24	−2	26	0	26	−2	28	0	28
154	Turkmenistan	22	+4	18	+1	17	0	17	0	17
154	Zimbabwe	22	+1	21	0	21	0	21	+1	20
156	Cambodia	21	0	21	0	21	+1	20	−2	22
156	Democratic Republic of the Congo	21	−1	22	0	22	0	22	+1	21
156	Uzbekistan	21	+2	19	+1	18	+1	17	0	17
159	Burundi	20	−1	21	+1	20	−1	21	+2	19
159	Central African Republic	20	−4	24	0	24	−1	25	−1	26
159	Chad	20	−2	22	0	22	+3	19	0	19
159	Haiti	20	+3	17	−2	19	0	19	0	19
159	Republic of the Congo	20	−3	23	0	23	+1	22	−4	26
164	Angola	18	+3	15	−4	19	−4	23	+1	22
164	Eritrea	18	0	18	0	18	−2	20	−5	25
166	Iraq	17	+1	16	0	16	0	16	−2	18
166	Venezuela	17	0	17	−2	19	−1	20	+1	19
168	Guinea-Bissau	16	−1	17	−2	19	0	19	−6	25
169	Afghanistan	15	+4	11	−1	12	+4	08	0	08
170	Libya	14	−2	16	−2	18	+3	15	−6	21
170	Sudan	14	+2	12	+1	11	0	11	−2	13
170	Yemen	14	−4	18	−1	19	+1	18	−5	23
173	Syria	13	−5	18	−2	20	+3	17	−9	26
174	South Sudan	11	−4	15	0	15	+1	14	0
175	Somalia	10	+2	08	0	08	0	08	0	08
176	North Korea	08	0	08	0	08	0	08	0	08

2011

The 20 top countries that were ranked as having the lowest perceived levels of corruption were (note scale of 10 to 1):

#	Country	Score	#	Country	Score
1	New Zealand	9.5	11	Luxembourg	8.5
2	Denmark	9.4	12	Hong Kong	8.4
	Finland		13	Iceland	8.3
4	Sweden	9.3	14	Germany	8.0
5	Singapore	9.2		Japan
6	Norway	9.0	16	Austria	7.8
7	Netherlands	8.9		Barbados
8	Australia	8.8		United Kingdom
	Switzerland		19	Belgium	7.5
10	Canada	8.7		Ireland
Source:[19]

The 20 bottom countries that were ranked as having the highest perceived levels of corruption were:

#	Country	Score	#	Country	Score
182	Somalia	1.0	172	Equatorial Guinea	1.9
	North Korea			Burundi
180	Myanmar	1.5	168	Libya	2.0
	Afghanistan			DR Congo
177	Uzbekistan	1.6		Chad
	Turkmenistan			Angola
	Sudan		164	Yemen	2.1
175	Iraq	1.8		Kyrgyzstan
	Haiti			Guinea
172	Venezuela	1.9		Cambodia
Source:[19]

2010

The 20 top countries that were ranked as having the lowest perceived levels of corruption were (note scale of 10 down to 1):

#	Country	Score	#	Country	Score
1	Denmark	9.3	11	Iceland	8.5
	New Zealand			Luxembourg
	Singapore		13	Hong Kong	8.4
4	Finland	9.2	14	Ireland	8.0
	Sweden		15	Austria	7.9
6	Canada	8.9		Germany
7	Netherlands	8.8	17	Barbados	7.8
8	Australia	8.7		Japan
	Switzerland		19	Qatar	7.7
10	Norway	8.6	20	United Kingdom	7.6
Source:[20]

The 20 bottom countries that were ranked as having the highest perceived levels of corruption were:

#	Country	Score	#	Country	Score
178	Somalia	1.1	168	Angola	1.9
176	Myanmar	1.4	164	Venezuela	2.0
	Afghanistan			Kyrgyzstan
175	Iraq	1.5		Guinea
172	Uzbekistan	1.6		DR Congo
	Turkmenistan		159	Tajikistan	2.1
	Sudan			Russia
171	Chad	1.7		Papua New Guinea
170	Burundi	1.8		Laos
168	Equatorial Guinea	1.9		Kenya
Source:[20]

Criticism and limitations

Because corruption is willfully hidden, it is impossible to measure directly; instead, proxies for corruption are used. Seligson states that corruption is a very "difficult phenomenon to measure", there have been many attempts to solve this problem but they’ve all come up with limitations.^[21]

The Index has been criticized on the basis of its methodology.^[22]

According to political scientist Dan Hough, three flaws in the Index include:^[23]

• Corruption is too complex to be captured by a single score. The nature of corruption in rural Kansas will, for instance, be different than in the city administration of New York yet the Index measures them in the same way.
• By measuring perceptions of corruption, as opposed to corruption itself, the Index may simply be reinforcing stereotypes and cliches.
• The Index only measures public-sector corruption, leaving out private actors. This for instance means the Libor scandal or the VW emissions scandal are not counted.

Media outlets frequently use the raw numbers as a yardstick for government performance, without clarifying what the numbers mean. The local Transparency International chapter in Bangladesh disowned the index results after a change in methodology caused the country's scores to increase; media reported it as an "improvement".^[24]

In a 2013 article in Foreign Policy, Alex Cobham suggested that CPI should be dropped for the good of Transparency International. It argues that the CPI embeds a powerful and misleading elite bias in popular perceptions of corruption, potentially contributing to a vicious cycle and at the same time incentivizing inappropriate policy responses. Cobham writes, "the index corrupts perceptions to the extent that it's hard to see a justification for its continuing publication."^[25]

However, recent econometric analyses that have exploited the existence of natural experiments on the level of corruption and compared the CPI with other subjective indicators have found that, while not perfect, the CPI does appear to consistently and validly measure the magnitude of corruption across the world.^[26]

In the United States, many lawyers advise international businesses to consult the CPI when attempting to measure the risk of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations in different nations. This practice has been criticized by the Minnesota Journal of International Law, which wrote that since the CPI may be subject to perceptual biases it therefore should not be considered by lawyers to be a measure of actual national corruption risk.^[27]

Transparency International also publishes the Global Corruption Barometer, which ranks countries by corruption levels using direct surveys instead of perceived expert opinions, which has been under criticism for substantial bias from the powerful elite.^[25]

Transparency International has warned that a country with a clean CPI score may still be linked to corruption internationally. For example, while Sweden had the 3rd best CPI score in 2015, one of its state-owned companies, TeliaSonera, was facing allegations of bribery in Uzbekistan.^[28]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Corruption by country.

• Official site
  • http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/India-ranks-76-in-Corruption-Perception-Index/article14022729.ece
• Transparency International (2010). Corruption Perceptions Index 2010: Long methodological brief (PDF) (Report). Transparency International. Retrieved 24 August 2011. 
• Corruption Perceptions Index 2013
• Interactive world map of the Corruption Perception Index: 2000-2008
• A Users' Guide to Measuring Corruption critiques the CPI and similar indices.
• Global Integrity Index
• List of Global Development Indexes and Rankings