Corruption Perceptions Index

A world map of the 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International which measures "the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians". High numbers (blue) indicate less perception of corruption, whereas lower numbers (red) indicate higher perception of corruption.

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 178 countries "on a scale from 100 (very clean) to 0 (highly corrupt)."^[3]

Methods

Transparency International commissioned Johann Graf Lambsdorff of the University of Passau to produce the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).^[4] The 2012 CPI draws on 13 different surveys and assessments from 12 different institutions.^[5] 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 Consultancy, Political Risk Services, the World Economic Forum, the World Bank and the World Justice Project.^[6]

Countries must be assessed by at least three sources to appear in the CPI.^[7] 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.^[7]

The CPI measures perception of corruption due to the difficulty of measuring absolute levels of corruption.^[8]

Validity

A study published in 2003 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.^[9] (Note that a lower index on this scale reflects greater corruption, so that countries with higher RGDPs generally had less corruption.)

Reports

2015

		2015[10]		2014[11]		2013[12]		2012[13]
Rank	Country or Territory	Score	Change in score from previous year	Score	Change in score from previous year	Score	Change in score from previous year	Score
1	Denmark	91	1	92	1	91	1	90
2	Finland	90	1	89	0	89	1	90
3	Sweden	89	2	87	2	89	1	88
4	New Zealand	88	3	91	0	91	1	90
5	Netherlands	87	4	83	0	83	1	84
6	Norway	87	1	86	0	86	1	85
7	Switzerland	86	0	86	1	85	1	86
8	Singapore	85	1	84	2	86	1	87
9	Canada	83	2	81	0	81	3	84
10	Germany	81	2	79	1	78	1	79
11	Luxembourg	81	1	82	2	80	0	80
12	United Kingdom	81	3	78	2	76	2	74
13	Australia	79	1	80	1	81	4	85
14	Iceland	79	0	79	1	78	4	82
15	Belgium	77	1	76	1	75	0	75
16	Austria	76	4	72	3	69	0	69
17	United States	76	2	74	1	73	0	73
18	Hong Kong	75	1	74	1	75	2	77
19	Ireland	75	1	74	2	72	3	69
20	Japan	75	1	76	2	74	0	74
21	Uruguay	74	1	73	0	73	1	72
22	Qatar	71	2	69	1	68	0	68
23	Chile	70	3	73	2	71	1	72
24	Estonia	70	1	69	1	68	4	64
25	France	70	1	69	2	71	0	71
26	United Arab Emirates	70	0	70	1	69	1	68
27	Bhutan	65	0	65	2	63	0	63
28	Botswana	63	0	63	1	64	1	65
29	Portugal	63	0	63	1	62	1	63
30	Poland	62	1	61	1	60	2	58
31	Taiwan	62	1	61	0	61	0	61
32	Cyprus	61	2	63	0	63	3	66
33	Israel	61	1	60	1	61	1	60
34	Lithuania	61	3	58	1	57	3	54
35	Slovenia	60	2	58	1	57	4	61
36	Spain	58	2	60	1	59	6	65
37	Czech Republic	56	5	51	3	48	1	49
38	South Korea	56	1	55	0	55	1	56
39	Malta	56	1	55	1	56	1	57
40	Cape Verde	55	2	57	1	58	2	60
41	Costa Rica	55	1	54	1	53	1	54
42	Latvia	55	0	55	2	53	4	49
43	Seychelles	55	0	55	1	54	2	52
44	Rwanda	54	5	49	4	53	0	53
45	Jordan	53	4	49	4	45	3	48
46	Mauritius	53	1	54	2	52	5	57
47	Thailand	53	4	49	1	48	0	48
48	Georgia	52	0	52	3	49	3	52
49	Saudi Arabia	52	3	49	3	46	2	44
50	Bahrain	51	2	49	1	48	3	51
51	Croatia	51	3	48	0	48	2	46
52	Hungary	51	3	54	0	54	1	55
53	Slovakia	51	1	50	3	47	1	46
54	Malaysia	50	2	52	2	50	1	49
55	Kuwait	49	5	44	1	43	1	44
56	Cuba	47	1	46	0	46	2	48
57	Indonesia	47	1	48	2	46	1	45
58	Greece	46	3	43	3	40	4	36
59	Romania	46	3	43	0	43	1	44
60	Oman	45	0	45	2	47	0	47
61	Italy	44	1	43	0	43	1	42
62	Lesotho	44	5	49	0	49	4	45
63	Montenegro	44	2	42	2	44	3	41
64	Senegal	44	1	43	2	41	5	36
65	South Africa	44	0	44	2	42	1	43
66	São Tomé and Príncipe	42	0	42	0	42	0	42
67	Macedonia	42	3	45	1	44	1	43
68	Bangladesh	42	3	39	5	34	1	33
69	Fiji	42	5	47	1	46	2	44
70	Turkey	41	2	43	2	41	0	41
71	Jamaica	41	3	38	0	38	0	38
72	Serbia	40	1	41	1	42	3	39
73	El Salvador	39	0	39	1	38	0	38
74	Mongolia	39	0	39	1	38	2	36
75	Panama	39	2	37	2	35	3	38
76	Iran	39	1	38	0	38	1	39
77	Trinidad and Tobago	38	0	38	2	36	-	36
78	Bosnia and Herzegovina	38	1	39	3	42	0	42
79	Brazil	38	5	43	1	42	1	43
80	India	38	0	38	2	36	0	36
81	Burkina Faso	38	0	38	0	38	0	38
82	Bulgaria	38	0	38	2	36	0	36
83	Laos	38	0	38	3	35	2	37
84	Tunisia	38	2	40	1	41	0	41
85	Nepal	38	0	38	0	38	1	37
86	Benin	37	2	39	3	36	0	36
87	China	37	1	36	4	40	1	39
88	Colombia	37	0	37	1	36	0	36
89	Argentina	37	0	37	1	38	3	41
90	Sri Lanka	37	1	38	1	37	3	40
91	Philippines	36	3	33	2	31	2	33
92	Timor-Leste	36	0	36	0	36	2	34
93	Egypt	36	1	37	5	32	0	32
94	Mexico	36	2	34	2	32	0	32
95	Kosovo	36	3	39	2	37	0	37
96	Peru	36	2	38	0	38	0	38
97	Suriname	36	0	36	0	36	1	37
98	Armenia	35	2	37	1	36	2	34
99	Algeria	35	3	32	4	28	6	34
100	Cambodia	35	0	35	1	34	0	34
101	Albania	35	3	38	2	36	2	34
102	Bolivia	34	1	35	1	34	0	34
103	Djibouti	34	0	34	2	36	0	36
104	Gabon	34	3	37	3	34	1	35
105	Niger	34	1	35	1	34	1	33
106	Dominican Republic	33	1	32	3	29	3	32
107	Ethiopia	33	0	33	0	33	0	33
108	Morocco	33	0	33	0	33	1	34
109	Moldova	33	2	35	0	35	1	36
110	Uzbekistan	32	2	34	0	34	1	35
111	Belarus	32	1	31	2	29	2	31
112	Ivory Coast	32	0	32	5	27	2	29
113	Ecuador	32	1	33	2	35	3	32
114	Togo	32	3	29	0	29	1	30
115	Honduras	31	2	29	3	26	2	28
116	Vietnam	31	2	33	4	37	0	37
117	Mauritania	31	1	30	0	30	1	31
118	Mozambique	31	0	31	1	30	1	31
119	Malawi	31	0	31	0	31	0	31
120	Russia	30	1	29	1	28	1	27
121	Tanzania	30	1	31	2	33	2	35
122	Azerbaijan	29	0	29	1	28	1	27
123	Guyana	29	1	30	3	27	1	28
124	Turkmenistan	29	2	27	1	28	0	28
125	Paraguay	29	2	31	1	30	1	31
126	Gambia	28	1	29	1	28	6	34
127	Guatemala	28	4	32	3	29	4	33
128	Kazakhstan	28	1	29	3	26	2	28
129	Kyrgyzstan	28	1	27	3	24	0	24
130	Lebanon	28	1	27	1	28	2	30
131	Madagascar	28	0	28	0	28	4	32
132	Ukraine	28	0	28	2	30	3	33
133	Cameroon	27	0	27	2	25	1	26
134	Ghana	27	0	27	2	25	3	28
135	Zambia	27	2	29	2	31	4	27
136	Nicaragua	27	1	28	0	28	1	29
137	Sierra Leone	27	3	24	0	24	1	25
138	Mali	27	1	26	1	25	1	26
139	Comoros	26	0	26	2	28	0	28
140	Nigeria	26	1	27	2	25	2	27
141	Tajikistan	26	3	23	1	22	0	22
142	Myanmar	25	0	25	2	27	1	26
143	Guinea	25	0	25	1	24	0	24
144	Kenya	25	0	25	2	27	0	27
145	Papua New Guinea	25	0	25	0	25	0	25
146	Uganda	25	1	26	0	26	3	29
147	Central African Republic	24	0	24	1	25	1	26
148	Chad	22	0	22	3	19	0	19
149	Republic of the Congo	22	0	22	0	22	1	21
150	Democratic Republic of the Congo	22	1	21	0	21	6	15
151	Burundi	21	1	20	1	21	2	19
152	Namibia	21	0	21	1	20	2	22
153	Zimbabwe	21	0	21	0	21	1	20
154	Liberia	19	1	18	1	17	0	17
155	Eritrea	18	0	18	2	20	5	25
156	Syria	18	4	8	0	8	0	8
157	Yemen	18	1	19	1	18	5	23
158	Haiti	17	2	19	0	19	0	19
159	Guinea-Bissau	17	2	19	0	19	6	25
160	Venezuela	17	2	19	1	20	1	19
161	Iraq	16	0	16	0	16	2	18
162	Libya	16	2	18	3	15	6	21
163	Angola	15	4	19	4	23	1	22
164	South Sudan	15	0	15	1	14	0	—
165	Sudan	12	1	11	0	11	2	13
166	Afghanistan	11	1	12	4	8	0	8
167	North Korea	8	0	8	0	8	0	8
168	Somalia	8	0	8	0	8	0	8

2014

The 20 top political entities that were ranked as having the lowest perceived levels of corruption were:

#	Country	Score	#	Country	Score
1	Denmark	92	11	Australia	80
2	New Zealand	91	12	Germany	79
3	Finland	89		Iceland
4	Sweden	87	14	United Kingdom	78
5	Norway	86	15	Belgium	76
	Switzerland			Japan
7	Singapore	84	17	United States	74
8	Netherlands	83		Hong Kong
9	Luxembourg	82		Ireland
10	Canada	81		Barbados
Source:[14]

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

#	Country	Score	#	Country	Score
174	Somalia	8	161	Yemen	19
	North Korea			Venezuela
173	Sudan	11		Haiti
172	Afghanistan	12		Guinea-Bissau
171	South Sudan	15		Angola
170	Iraq	16	159	Syria	20
169	India	17		Burundi
166	Liberia	18	156	Zimbabwe	21
	Libya			Democratic Republic of the Congo
	Eritrea			Namibia
Source:[14]

2013

The 20 top countries that were ranked as having the lowest perceived levels of corruption were:

#	Country	Score	#	Country	Score
1	Denmark	91	11	Luxembourg	80
	New Zealand		12	Germany	78
3	Finland	89		Iceland
	Sweden		14	United Kingdom	76
5	Norway	86	15	Barbados	75
	Singapore			Belgium
7	Switzerland	85		Hong Kong
8	Netherlands	83	18	Japan	74
9	Australia	81	19	United States	73
	Canada			Uruguay
Source:[15]

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

#	Country	Score	#	Country	Score
175	Somalia	8	167	Yemen	18
	North Korea		163	Haiti	19
	Afghanistan			Guinea-Bissau
174	Sudan	11		Equatorial Guinea
173	South Sudan	14		Chad
172	Libya	15	160	Venezuela	20
171	Iraq	16		Eritrea
168	India	17		Cambodia
	Turkmenistan		158	Zimbabwe	21
	Syria			Myanmar
Source:[15]

2012

The 20 top countries that were ranked as having the lowest perceived levels of corruption were:

#	Country	Score	#	Country	Score
1	Denmark	90	11	Iceland	82
	Finland		12	Luxembourg	80
	New Zealand		13	Germany	79
4	Sweden	88	14	Hong Kong	77
5	Singapore	87	15	Barbados	76
6	Switzerland	86	16	Belgium	75
7	Australia	85	17	Japan	74
	Norway			United Kingdom
9	Canada	84	19	United States	73
	Netherlands		20	Chile	72
				Uruguay
Source:[16]

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

#	Country	Score	#	Country	Score
174	Somalia	8	165	Chad	19
	North Korea			Burundi
	Afghanistan		163	Zimbabwe	20
173	Sudan	11		Equatorial Guinea
172	Myanmar	15	160	Libya	21
170	India	17		Laos
	Turkmenistan			DR Congo
169	Iraq	18	157	Tajikistan	22
165	Venezuela	19		Cambodia
	Haiti			Angola
Source:[16]

2011

The 20 top countries that were ranked as having the lowest perceived levels of corruption were:

#	Country	Score	#	Country	Score
1	New Zealand	95	11	Luxembourg	85
2	Denmark	94	12	Hong Kong	84
	Finland		13	Iceland	83
4	Sweden	93	14	Germany	80
5	Singapore	92		Japan
6	Norway	90	16	Austria	78
7	Netherlands	89		Barbados
8	Australia	88		United Kingdom
	Switzerland		19	Belgium	75
10	Canada	87		Ireland
Source:[17]

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

#	Country	Score	#	Country	Score
182	Somalia	10	172	Equatorial Guinea	19
	North Korea			Burundi
180	Myanmar	15	168	Niger	20
	Afghanistan			DR Congo
177	India	16		Chad
	Turkmenistan			Angola
	Sudan		164	Yemen	21
175	Iraq	18		Kyrgyzstan
	Haiti			Guinea
172	Venezuela	19		Cambodia
Source:[17]

2010

The 20 top countries that were ranked as having the lowest perceived levels of corruption were:

#	Country	Score	#	Country	Score
1	Denmark	93	11	Iceland	85
	New Zealand			Luxembourg
	Singapore		13	Hong Kong	84
4	Finland	92	14	Ireland	80
	Sweden		15	Austria	79
6	Canada	89		Germany
7	Netherlands	88	17	Barbados	78
8	Australia	87		Japan
	Switzerland		19	Qatar	77
10	Norway	86	20	United Kingdom	76
Source:[18]

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

#	Country	Score	#	Country	Score
178	Somalia	11	168	Angola	19
176	Myanmar	14	164	Venezuela	20
	Afghanistan			Kyrgyzstan
175	Iraq	15		Guinea
172	India	16		DR Congo
	Turkmenistan		159	Tajikistan	21
	Sudan			Russia
171	Chad	17		Papua New Guinea
170	Burundi	18		Laos
168	Equatorial Guinea	19		Kenya
Source:[18]

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,^[19] as well as an increase in GDP growth of 1.7% for every unit increase in a country's CPI score.^[20] Also shown was a power-law dependence linking higher CPI score to higher rates of foreign investment in a country.

Criticism

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]

Political scientist Dan Hough pointed out three flaws in the Index:^[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]

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.^[26]

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.^[27]

References

1. Transparency International (2011). "Corruption Perceptions Index". Transparency International. Transparency International. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
2. CPI 2010: Long methodological brief, p. 2
3. Transparency International (2012). "Corruption Perceptions Index 2012: In detail". Transparency International. Transparency International. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
4. "Frequently Asked Questions: TI Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI 2005)". Retrieved 22 November 2005.
5. CPI 2010: Long methodological brief, p. 1
6. Transparency International (2010). Corruption Perceptions Index 2010: Sources of information (PDF) (Report). Transparency International. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
7. CPI 2010: Long methodological brief, p. 7
8. Transparency International (2010). "Frequently asked questions (FAQs)". Corruption Perceptions Index 2010. Transparency International. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
9. Wilhelm, Paul G. (2002). "International Validation of the Corruption Perceptions Index: Implications for Business Ethics and Entrepreneurship Education". Journal of Business Ethics. Springer Netherlands. 35 (3): 177–189. doi:10.1023/A:1013882225402.
10. "CPI 2015 table". Transparency International. Retrieved 2016-01-28.
11. "CPI 2014 table". Transparency International. Retrieved 2014-12-16.
12. "CPI 2013 table". Transparency International. Retrieved 2014-12-16.
13. "CPI 2012 table". Transparency International. Retrieved 2014-12-16.
14. Corruption Perceptions Index 2014. Full table and rankings. Transparency International. Retrieved: 3 December 2014.
15. Corruption Perceptions Index 2013. Full table and rankings. Transparency International. Retrieved: 4 December 2013.
16. Corruption Perceptions Index 2012. Full table and rankings. Transparency International. Retrieved: 11 November 2014.
17. Corruption Perceptions Index 2011. Full table and rankings. Transparency International. Retrieved: 4 December 2013.
18. Corruption Perceptions Index 2010. Full table and rankings. Transparency International. Retrieved: 4 December 2013.
19. Shao, J.; Ivanov, P. C.; Podobnik, B.; Stanley, H. E. (2007). "Quantitative relations between corruption and economic factors". The European Physical Journal B. 56 (2): 157. arXiv:0705.0161. Bibcode:2007EPJB...56..157S. doi:10.1140/epjb/e2007-00098-2.
20. Podobnik, B.; Shao, J.; Njavro, D.; Ivanov, P. C.; Stanley, H. E. (2008). "Influence of corruption on economic growth rate and foreign investment". The European Physical Journal B. 63 (4): 547. arXiv:0710.1995. Bibcode:2008EPJB...63..547P. doi:10.1140/epjb/e2008-00210-2.
21. Seligson, Mitchell A. "The Impact of Corruption on Regime Legitimacy: A Comparative Study of Four Latin American Countries." Journal of Politics(2002): 408-433.
22. "Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index: Whose Perceptions Are They Anyway?" (PDF). 2005.
23. Hough, Dan (2016-01-27). "Here's this year's (flawed) Corruption Perception Index. Those flaws are useful.". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
24. Werve, Jonathan (2008-09-23). "TI's Index: Local Chapter Not Having It". Global Integrity.
25. Cobham, Alex. "Corrupting Perceptions". Foreign Policy.
26. Campbell, Stuart Vincent. "Perception is Not Reality: The FCPA, Brazil, and the Mismeasurement of Corruption" 22 Minnesota Journal of International Law 1, p. 247 (2013).
27. CPI index 2015. Accessed 2016-02-03.

External links

• Official site
• 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