Corruption Perceptions 2017

This Corruption Perceptions Index highlighted that the majority of countries were making little or no progress in ending corruption, while further analysis showed journalists and activists in corrupt countries risking their lives every day in an effort to speak out.

The index, which ranked 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and business people, used a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 was highly corrupt and 100 was very clean. In this year, the index found that more than two-thirds of countries scored below 50, with an average score of 43. Unfortunately, compared to recent years, this poor performance was nothing new. 

This year, New Zealand and Denmark ranked highest with scores of 89 and 88 respectively. Syria, South Sudan and Somalia ranked the lowest with scores of 14, 12, and 9 respectively. The best performing region was Western Europe with an average score of 66. The worst performing regions were Sub-Saharan Africa (average score 32) and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (average score 34).