Greece Outside In: Corruption index 2012 from Transparency International: find out how countries compare

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Corruption index 2012 from Transparency International: find out how countries compare

Which country is most corrupt? North Korea is still officially considered the world's most corrupt country, along with Somalia and Afghanistan. But why has the US gone up six places and the UK's score worsened? See how the annual corruption index has changed
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• Interactive map of this data
• Last year's data

How corrupt is your government? Troubled regimes may have fallen around the globe but the latest corruption index from Transparency International shows the old problems are as rife as they ever were.

The CPI scores countries on a scale of zero to 100, with zero indicating high levels of corruption and 100, low levels. Two thirds of the 176 countries ranked in the 2012 index score below 50 - meaning they are considered significantly corrupt.

The lowest scored country in Europe, however, is troubled Greece - down 14 places to number 36. Syria too, presently in the middle of civil war, is down 15 places to number 144, making it one of the most corrupt countries on earth. Egypt, presently in the middle of demonstrations, is down six places to 118 out of 174 countries ranked by the index.

And the most corrupt places in the world are not the most surprising. Unstable governments, often with a legacy of conflict, continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI. Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia share last place with a score of only eight out of 100 for transparency.

Unsurprisingly, at the top are some of the world's most stable countries - New Zealand, Denmark and Finland are number one. That's a move up of one place for the latter two.

The US has had a larger rise though - up five places to number 19, in contrast to the UK's drop of one place to number 18.

Changes in methodology mean scores cannot be compared, year on year, although the relative placing of each country can be.

The Index, which is closely watched by investors, economists, and civil society campaigners, is based on expert assessments and data from 13 surveys from independent institutions, covering issues such as access to information, bribery of public officials, kickbacks in public procurement, and the enforcement of anti-corruption laws. While critics note that measuring perceptions of corruption is not the same as measuring corruption itself, the latter is almost impossible to do - as the corrupt are usually keen to cover up their tracks, hard data on graft and bribery is notoriously difficult to come by.

The full data is below - what can you do with it?