Transparency International
Table of Contents
A previous post – ‘ANC in Trouble’ had a theme of corruption all the way through.
But – how do you measure corruption
An organisation called ‘Transparency International’ can and does.
Set up in 1993 by an ex-Director of the World Bank and developed a range of statistical measures as benchmarks to quantify the levels of corruption in 180 countries – specifically focused on ‘public sector’ corruption i.e. government at all its levels.
It produces an annual league table -available free on their website, based on the same criteria each time – so it provides a valid comparison index over time.
Ranking countries with no measurable corruption at 100 – and there are none – The last table in 2022 – listing from least corrupt at the top and most corrupt at the bottom – the top ten being:
Denmark 90
Finland 87
New Zealand 87
Norway 87
Singapore 83
Sweden 83
Switzerland82
Netherlands80
Germany 79
And in the relegation zone:
South Sudan 13
Syria 13
Somalia 12
The correlation between violent conflicts and corruption – being a pretty obvious one.
Before UK readers feel smug – the UK score had dropped – I to 73 – officially ‘an ‘historic low’.
Overall – between the 2021 and 2022 indexes – 95% of countries had made ‘little or no progress – 120 of them scoring below 50 and producing an overall average score at 43.
If interested, you can access the last index at: