The survey covering 180 countries confirms the trend registered over the last years and consisting in the lack of considerable progress in those jurisdictions: two thirds of countries are assigned a score below 50 with the average score being of only 43 points.
The leaders of the ranking are Denmark (90 points out of 100), Finland (88), Singapore (84), New Zealand (83), Luxembourg (81), Norway (81) and Switzerland (81). However, as every year, the TI experts recall that the placement at the top of the ranking does not mean that there is no corruption in those countries, as they do not always take appropriate measures to counter transnational corruption and serve often as «financial safe havens» for concealing proceeds of unlawful activities, including corruption.
The bottom of the ranking is occupied by South Sudan (eight points out of 100), Somalia (nine), Venezuela (ten), Syria (12), Yemen (13), Libya (13), Eritrea (13) and Equatorial Guinea (13).
In general, the TI experts stress that there have been little progress in the fight against corruption in recent years: since 2012, only 32 countries have improved their performance, while 47 states have drastically dropped down in the ranking in the same period: for example, the United States has gone down by eight places, New Zealand - by seven, and Russia - by six.
In the 2024 ranking, the researches pay particular attention to the link between corruption and climate, stressing that many countries in need of taking efficient measures against climate change (for instance, India, Colombia, Egypt and Libya) have a high level of corruption, which hampers, among other things, a timely adoption of necessary measures.
Besides the general ranking, TI has issued separate corruption perceptions surveys for six regions:
1. The Americas. Despite the long record of development of anti-corruption legislation the level of corruption perception in North and South America remains high and has not changed in a considerable manner for over five years. The TI experts underline that this is favored by widespread undue influence of political and economic elites, lack of adoption of sufficient anti-money laundering measures, weakness of judicial bodies hampering enforcement of anti-corruption norms, and a low level of transparency in public decision-making. Some countries of the region (Argentina, El Salvador) have recently adopted measures restricting public access to the information important also from the point of view of anti-corruption monitoring.
2. Western Europe and EU. The countries of Western Europe and the EU constantly occupy the leading positions in the ranking. However, the average performance of the region has been getting poorer for two years in a row. The backsliding in some jurisdiction is due to the decisions that are equivocal from the anti-corruption point of view such as decriminalization of abuse of functions in Italy and dissolution of the Special Prosecutor’s Office and softening of liability measures for corruption crimes in Slovakia. The TI experts state that the reasons for poorer performance in other countries are related to insufficient regulation of lobbying (France) and low level of transparency and poor accountability in public procurement (Malta, Hungary, Croatia and Czech Republic).
3. Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The average score for the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia has remained unchanged for several years and and is only 35 points, which indicates a high level of corruption perception. The TI experts believe that the root causes thereof consist in weak democratic institutions, low level of respect for the rule of law, political instability and military conflicts. In particular, some countries have recently expanded the powers of the heads of state in a considerable manner (Belarus, Kyrgyzstan); many countries of the region have either adopted laws on foreign agents, restricting activities of civil society organizations and the media, or are planning to do so.
4. Asia Pacific. The TI experts stress that the governments of Asian Pacific countries still fail to maintain their promises on the fight against corruption. After several years of stagnation the average score for the region in 2024 reduced from 45 to 44 points with New Zealand, traditionally among the top three countries of the CPI ranking, being placed the fourth for the first time in 12 years.
5. Sub-Saharan Africa. As before, the 2024 score for the Sub-Saharan African countries is extremely low: the average score is only 33 points with 90 per cent of the jurisdictions of the region being assigned less than 50 points. However, some countries have achieved effectiveness in countering corruption: for example, Cote d’Ivoire has conducted reforms aimed at enhancing transparency of public bodies and decision-making and have strengthened the measures against economic and financial crimes; the Seychelles have actively investigated high-profile corruption cases and taken steps to enhance beneficial ownership transparency and increased information-sharing between competent law enforcement authorities; Tanzania has introduced new elements of corruption crimes and toughened liability measures for corruption crimes.
6. North Africa and the Middle East. No significant changes in corruption perceptions have been registered in this region either: as in the previous years, the authoritarian character of political regimes and wide-spread political corruption constitute important barriers to countering corruption crimes here. The situation is worsened by a tense military and political situation and wide-spread attacks against the freedom of speech and bans on public assembly. Only few jurisdictions were found making effort to improve their anti-corruption action: in particular, the TI experts point out that the UAE and Saudi Arabia are making active progress in digitalization of services.
*Transparency International has been issuing its Corruption Perceptions Index for 30 years already.
The CPI is calculated on the basis of surveys of experts and entrepreneurs and is aimed at illustrating the level of perception of corruption in the public sector. TI does not carry out its own surveys, using the data of 13 outside sources (such as the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, the Asian and African Development Banks and others), the results of which are standardized in a single scoring system. Based on the findings of the survey countries are ranked in accordance with the score assigned, from 0 (the highest level of corruption in the survey) to 100 (the lowest level of corruption). It should be highlighted that the CPI, as the majority of other rankings assessing the level of corruption, has a number of shortcomings that we have already written about.