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Corruption rises: 20 facts you must know

Last updated on: January 28, 2011 12:44 IST
Somalia, most corrupt nation.
Somalia is the world's most corrupt nation, according to Transparency International's 2010 Corruption Perception Index.

The 2010 CPI shows that nearly three quarters of the 178 countries in the index score below five, on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 10 (perceived to have low levels of corruption), indicating a serious corruption problem.

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Corruption rises: 20 facts you must know

Last updated on: January 28, 2011 12:44 IST
New Zealand.
New Zealand, Denmark and Singapore are the least corrupt countries in the world, according to Transparency International's 2010 Corruption Perception Index. Stiff penalties against bribing government officials or accepting bribes are strictly enforced.

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Corruption rises: 20 facts you must know

Last updated on: January 28, 2011 12:44 IST
An employee of telecom operator systems, displays an Indian currency note as he takes part in a silent protest against the telecom corruption scandal.
India, unfortunately, continues to be among the world's most corrupt nations. In fact, it has fallen further in the Transparency International index to be ranked at 87 among 180 nations.

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Corruption rises: 20 facts you must know

Last updated on: January 28, 2011 12:44 IST
Corruption rises in India.
Corruption has risen in India since 2008. In 2008, India was at the 85th position, it was ranked at 84 in 2009. African nations like Rwanda (66), Ghana (62), Namibia (56)and Botswana (33), which were perennially dogged by corruption -- are now better off than of India in terms of transparency.

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Corruption rises: 20 facts you must know

Last updated on: January 28, 2011 12:44 IST
Activists of Communist Party of India Marxist CPI (M) hold a cartoon placard.
The total amount of money involved in various scams in India over the last 12 years alone, since 1992, is estimated to be over Rs 80 lakh crore (Rs 80 trillion) or $1.80 trillion! While this figure is not claimed to be a definitive calculation, it has been arrived at on the basis of material published in newspapers over the years.

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Corruption rises: 20 facts you must know

Last updated on: January 28, 2011 12:44 IST
Spectrum allocation, biggest scam.
At a mind-boggling Rs 176,000 crore (Rs 1.76 trillion), the 2G spectrum allocation scam is by far the biggest scam in India. The Supreme Court recently said the spectrum scam has put 'all other scams to shame'. The current Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, however, says there was 'zero loss' to the nation in the allocation.

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Corruption rises: 20 facts you must know

Last updated on: January 28, 2011 12:44 IST
Illicit financial flows rise.
Post-Independence, India lost a staggering $462 billion, or about Rs 21 lakh crore, in illicit financial flows due to tax evasion, crime and corruption, according to Washington-based Global Financial Integrity (GFI).

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Corruption rises: 20 facts you must know

Last updated on: January 28, 2011 12:44 IST
Luxembourg, a tax haven.
The total amount of money stashed away in tax havens has been estimated at a whopping $11.5 trillion by the Tax Justice Network.

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Corruption rises: 20 facts you must know

Last updated on: January 28, 2011 12:44 IST
One person in four worldwide paid a bribe.
About 54 per cent Indians say they greased the palms of authorities to get things done. One person in four worldwide paid a bribe during the past year.

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Corruption rises: 20 facts you must know

Last updated on: January 28, 2011 12:44 IST
Bengaluru tops in bribery.
Bengaluru tops the bribery chart in India, according to a news report. It is followed by Mumbai, Chennai and Pune. People surveyed in these cities said that they had paid a bribe to a government official or a policeman or a health worker or a private organisation's employee in the last year. 

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Corruption rises: 20 facts you must know

Last updated on: January 28, 2011 12:44 IST
Policemen accounted for 30 per cent of the bribe demands.
The majority of bribe demands in India (91 per cent) came from government officials. And policemen accounted for 30 per cent of the bribe demands (second only to national-level government officials at 33 per cent).

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Corruption rises: 20 facts you must know

Last updated on: January 28, 2011 12:44 IST
Low income earners pay more bribe.
In India, lower income earners reported paying more bribes than the high-salaried people. The poor always seem to have the worst of all worlds.

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Corruption rises: 20 facts you must know

Last updated on: January 28, 2011 12:44 IST
An Afghan money changer counts money at his shop in Kabul.
The highest number of bribery payments in 2010 is in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Cameroon, India, Iraq, Liberia, Nigeria, Palestine, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Uganda where more than 50 per cent of people surveyed paid bribe in the past 12 months.

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Corruption rises: 20 facts you must know

Last updated on: January 28, 2011 12:44 IST
A young soldier in Sudan.
Worldwide, sub-Saharan Africa was the region reporting the greatest incidence of bribery with more than one person in two saying they had made such payments to officials in the past 12 months.

The Middle East and North Africa was the next most corrupt regions with 36 per cent of people there reporting having paid bribes.

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Corruption rises: 20 facts you must know

Last updated on: January 28, 2011 12:44 IST
An employee works inside the Duravit production site in Gujarat.
Bribery and corruption are the most common economic crimes that India's manufacturing sector faces, says the PwC Global Economic Crime Survey. Over 25 per cent of Indian manufacturing sector respondents have been victims of economic crime in the past year as against 21 per cent of the global manufacturing sector respondents.

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Corruption rises: 20 facts you must know

Last updated on: January 28, 2011 12:44 IST
Workers make spare parts for containers at a workshop on the outskirts of Mumbai.
The pressures to commit economic crime in the manufacturing sector in India were much higher globally (60 per cent) in the last 12 months as compared to India (29 per cent).

In comparison, rationalisation to commit economic crime was much higher in manufacturing companies in India (42 per cent) as compared to the global level (15 per cent).

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Corruption rises: 20 facts you must know

Last updated on: January 28, 2011 12:44 IST
one in four people report paying bribes in the last year.
As many as 74 per cent Indians believe that corruption levels have increased in the past three years.

Globally, 60 per cent people hold the same view, and one in four people report paying bribes in the last year. Military, non-governmental organizations are least affected by corruption.

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Corruption rises: 20 facts you must know

Last updated on: January 28, 2011 12:44 IST
Myanmar.
The countries with autocratic rule are more corrupt. Myanmar, Sudan, Chad and many Asian and African countries rank high in corruption. Countries with a democratic government like Germany, Japan, Ireland and UK have less corruption.

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Corruption rises: 20 facts you must know

Last updated on: January 28, 2011 12:44 IST
Iraq.
According to Standard and Poor's, the likelihood of an investor losing his entire investment within five years lies somewhere between 80 per cent and 100 per cent in countries such as Colombia, Iraq and Libya.

It is more than 60 per cent in Egypt and Syria and around 50 per cent in Algeria, Jordan, Morocco and Turkey.

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Corruption rises: 20 facts you must know

Last updated on: January 28, 2011 12:44 IST
Labourers repair electricity cables.
In China, around 106,000 officials were found guilty of corruption in 2009, an increase of 2.5 per cent compared to the earlier year.

The United Nations established International Anti-Corruption Day in 2003 to raise awareness and promote the global fight against this menace.