Rediff.com« Back to articlePrint this article

India less corrupt now; Iraq worst

Last updated on: November 07, 2006 11:11 IST

India is now less corrupt, despite the fact that it tops the world bribery list!

The latest Transparency International (TI), the Berlin-based anti-corruption watchdog, ranks India at number 70 on its Corruption Perception Index in a list of 163 countries. India's ranking last year was number 88.

Interestingly, India has the lowest perceived level of corruption among South Asian nations. Bangladesh, ranked 156, is the most corrupt, followed by Pakistan at 142 and Sri Lanka at 84.

The report says that Iraq, Myanmar and Haiti are the most corrupt nations in the world, while Finland, Iceland and New Zealand are seen least corrupt.

TI says that countries with a significant improvement in perceived levels of corruption include: Algeria, Czech Republic, India, Japan, Latvia, Lebanon, Mauritius, Paraguay, Slovenia, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uruguay.

The 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index is a composite index that draws on multiple expert opinion surveys that poll perceptions of public sector corruption in 163 countries around the world, the greatest scope of any CPI to date. It scores countries on a scale from zero to ten, with zero indicating high levels of perceived corruption and ten indicating low levels of perceived corruption.

TI calculates the CPI score on the basis of perceptions of the degree of corruption in each country by international organisations, business people and analysts. The score ranges between zero, which means highly corrupt, and 10, which means very clean. The agency said countries with indices below three were considered highly corrupt. India narrowly escaped falling in this category with a score of 3.3 points.

Countries with a significant worsening in perceived levels of corruption include: Brazil, Cuba, Israel, Jordan, Laos, Seychelles, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia and the United States.

No.

Country

2006 CPI Score

Surveys used

Confidence range

1

Finland

9.6

7

9.4 - 9.7

1

Iceland

9.6

6

9.5 - 9.7

1

New Zealand

9.6

7

9.4 - 9.6

4

Denmark

9.5

7

9.4 - 9.6

5

Singapore

9.4

9

9.2 - 9.5

6

Sweden

9.2

7

9.0 - 9.3

7

Switzerland

9.1

7

8.9 - 9.2

8

Norway

8.8

7

8.4 - 9.1

9

Australia

8.7

8

8.3 - 9.0

9

Netherlands

8.7

7

8.3 - 9.0

11

Austria

8.6

7

8.2 - 8.9

11

Luxembourg

8.6

6

8.1 - 9.0

11

United Kingdom

8.6

7

8.2 - 8.9

14

Canada

8.5

7

8.0 - 8.9

15

Hong Kong

8.3

9

7.7 - 8.8

16

Germany

8.0

7

7.8 - 8.4

17

Japan

7.6

9

7.0 - 8.1

18

France

7.4

7

6.7 - 7.8

18

Ireland

7.4

7

6.7 - 7.9

20

Belgium

7.3

7

6.6 - 7.9

20

Chile

7.3

7

6.6 - 7.6

20

USA

7.3

8

6.6 - 7.8

23

Spain

6.8

7

6.3 - 7.2

24

Barbados

6.7

4

6.0 - 7.2

24

Estonia

6.7

8

6.1 - 7.4

26

Macao

6.6

3

5.4 - 7.1

26

Portugal

6.6

7

5.9 - 7.3

28

Malta

6.4

4

5.4 - 7.3

28

Slovenia

6.4

8

5.7 - 7.0

28

Uruguay

6.4

5

5.9 - 7.0

31

United Arab Emirates

6.2

5

5.6 - 6.9

32

Bhutan

6.0

3

4.1 - 7.3

32

Qatar

6.0

5

5.6 - 6.5

34

Israel

5.9

7

5.2 - 6.5

34

Taiwan

5.9

9

5.6 - 6.2

36

Bahrain

5.7

5

5.3 - 6.2

37

Botswana

5.6

6

4.8 - 6.6

37

Cyprus

5.6

4

5.2 - 5.9

39

Oman

5.4

3

4.1 - 6.2

40

Jordan

5.3

7

4.5 - 5.7

41

Hungary

5.2

8

5.0 - 5.4

42

Mauritius

5.1

5

4.1 - 6.3

42

South Korea

5.1

9

4.7 - 5.5

44

Malaysia

5.0

9

4.5 - 5.5

45

Italy

4.9

7

4.4 - 5.4

46

Czech Republic

4.8

8

4.4 - 5.2

46

Kuwait

4.8

5

4.0 - 5.4

46

Lithuania

4.8

6

4.2 - 5.6

49

Latvia

4.7

6

4.0 - 5.5

49

Slovakia

4.7

8

4.3- 5.2

51

South Africa

4.6

8

4.1 - 5.1

51

Tunisia

4.6

5

3.9 - 5.6

53

Dominica

4.5

3

3.5 - 5.3

54

Greece

4.4

7

3.9 - 5.0

55

Costa Rica

4.1

5

3.3 - 4.8

55

Namibia

4.1

6

3.6 - 4.9

57

Bulgaria

4.0

7

3.4 - 4.8

57

El Salvador

4.0

5

3.2 - 4.8

59

Colombia

3.9

7

3.5 - 4.7

60

Turkey

3.8

7

3.3 - 4.2

61

Jamaica

3.7

5

3.4 - 4.0

61

Poland

3.7

8

3.2 - 4.4

63

Lebanon

3.6

3

3.2 - 3.8

63

Seychelles

3.6

3

3.2 - 3.8

63

Thailand

3.6

9

3.2 - 3.9

66

Belize

3.5

3

2.3 - 4.0

66

Cuba

3.5

3

1.8 - 4.7

66

Grenada

3.5

3

2.3 - 4.1

69

Croatia

3.4

7

3.1 - 3.7

70

Brazil

3.3

7

3.1 - 3.6

70

China

3.3

9

3.0 - 3.6

70

Egypt

3.3

6

3.0 - 3.7

70

Ghana

3.3

6

3.0 - 3.6

70

India

3.3

10

3.1 - 3.6

70

Mexico

3.3

7

3.1 - 3.4

70

Peru

3.3

5

2.8 - 3.8

70

Saudi Arabia

3.3

3

2.2 - 3.7

70

Senegal

3.3

5

2.8 - 3.7

79

Burkina Faso

3.2

5

2.8 - 3.6

79

Lesotho

3.2

5

2.9 - 3.6

79

Moldova

3.2

7

2.7 - 3.8

79

Morocco

3.2

6

2.8 - 3.5

79

Trinidad and Tobago

3.2

5

2.8 - 3.6

84

Algeria

3.1

5

2.7 - 3.6

84

Madagascar

3.1

5

2.3 - 3.7

84

Mauritania

3.1

4

2.1 - 3.7

84

Panama

3.1

5

2.8 - 3.3

84

Romania

3.1

8

3.0 - 3.2

84

Sri Lanka

3.1

6

2.7 - 3.5

90

Gabon

3.0

4

2.4 - 3.3

90

Serbia

3.0

7

2.7 - 3.3

90

Suriname

3.0

4

2.7 - 3.3

93

Argentina

2.9

7

2.7 - 3.2

93

Armenia

2.9

6

2.7 - 3.0

93

Bosnia and Herzgegovina

2.9

6

2.7 - 3.1

93

Eritrea

2.9

3

2.2 - 3.5

93

Syria

2.9

3

2.3 - 3.2

93

Tanzania

2.9

7

2.7 - 3.1

99

Dominican Republic

2.8

5

2.4 - 3.2

99

Georgia

2.8

6

2.5 - 3.0

99

Mali

2.8

7

2.5 - 3.3

99

Mongolia

2.8

5

2.3 - 3.4

99

Mozambique

2.8

7

2.5 - 3.0

99

Ukraine

2.8

6

2.5 - 3.0

105

Bolivia

2.7

6

2.4 - 3.0

105

Iran

2.7

3

2.3 - 3.1

105

Libya

2.7

3

2.4 - 3.2

105

Macedonia

2.7

6

2.6 - 2.9

105

Malawi

2.7

7

2.5 - 3.0

105

Uganda

2.7

7

2.4 - 3.0

111

Albania

2.6

5

2.4 - 2.7

111

Guatemala

2.6

5

2.3 - 3.0

111

Kazakhstan

2.6

6

2.3 - 2.8

111

Laos

2.6

4

2.0 - 3.1

111

Nicaragua

2.6

6

2.4 - 2.9

111

Paraguay

2.6

5

2.2 - 3.3

111

Timor-Leste

2.6

3

2.3 - 3.0

111

Viet Nam

2.6

8

2.4 - 2.9

111

Yemen

2.6

4

2.4 - 2.7

111

Zambia

2.6

6

2.1 - 3.0

121

Benin

2.5

6

2.1 - 2.9

121

Gambia

2.5

6

2.3 - 2.8

121

Guyana

2.5

5

2.2 - 2.6

121

Honduras

2.5

6

2.4 - 2.7

121

Nepal

2.5

5

2.3 - 2.9

121

Phillipines

2.5

9

2.3 - 2.8

121

Russia

2.5

8

2.3 - 2.7

121

Rwanda

2.5

3

2.3 - 2.6

121

Swaziland

2.5

3

2.2 - 2.7

130

Azerbaijan

2.4

7

2.2 - 2.6

130

Burundi

2.4

5

2.2 - 2.6

130

Central African Republic

2.4

3

2.2 - 2.5

130

Ethiopia

2.4

7

2.2 - 2.6

130

Indonesia

2.4

10

2.2 - 2.6

130

Papua New Guinea

2.4

4

2.3 - 2.6

130

Togo

2.4

3

1.9 - 2.6

130

Zimbabwe

2.4

7

2.0 - 2.8

138

Cameroon

2.3

7

2.1 - 2.5

138

Ecuador

2.3

5

2.2 - 2.5

138

Niger

2.3

5

2.1 - 2.6

138

Venezuela

2.3

7

2.2 - 2.4

142

Angola

2.2

5

1.9 - 2.4

142

Congo, Republic

2.2

4

2.2 - 2.3

142

Kenya

2.2

7

2.0 - 2.4

142

Kyrgyzstan

2.2

6

2.0 - 2.6

142

Nigeria

2.2

7

2.0 - 2.3

142

Pakistan

2.2

6

2.0 - 2.4

142

Sierra Leone

2.2

3

2.2 - 2.3

142

Tajikistan

2.2

6

2.0 - 2.4

142

Turkmenistan

2.2

4

1.9 - 2.5

151

Belarus

2.1

4

1.9 - 2.2

151

Cambodia

2.1

6

1.9 - 2.4

151

C?d?Ivoire

2.1

4

2.0 - 2.2

151

Equatorial Guinea

2.1

3

1.7 - 2.2

151

Uzbekistan

2.1

5

1.8 - 2.2

156

Bangladesh

2.0

6

1.7 - 2.2

156

Chad

2.0

6

1.8 - 2.3

156

Congo, Democratic Republic

2.0

4

1.8 - 2.2

156

Sudan

2.0

4

1.8 - 2.2

160

Guinea

1.9

3

1.7 - 2.1

160

Iraq

1.9

3

1.6 - 2.1

160

Myanmar

1.9

3

1.8 - 2.3

163

Haiti

1.8

3

1.7 - 1.8

Agencies