- Berlin-based non-government organisation Transparency International, on 22 February 2018, released its annual ‘The Corruption Perception Index 2017’.
- According to the Index India is ranked at 81st place among a group of 180 countries. India’s ranking has slipped by two places.
- India’s score is at 40 points which is similar to 2016. India’s score has not canged but ranking has slided down.
- In 2016, India was at 79th place among 176 countries.
- The index called India as one of the ‘worst offenders, in the Asia-Pacific region.
- Who is the cleanest: With the 89 score, New Zealand is the cleanest nation in the world, followed by Denmark which scored 88.
- Somalia, the most corrupt nation: The Index declared Somalia the most corrupt country in the world.
- What the report says: As per the Transparency International, in some countries across the Asia-Pacific region, journalists, activists, opposition leaders and even staff of law enforcement or watchdog agencies are threatened, and in worst cases, even murdered, the report stated. Philippines, India and the Maldives are among the worst regional offenders in this respect.
- In the last six years alone, fifteen journalists working on corruption stories were murdered in these Asian countries, more than 9 out of 10 journalists were killed in countries that score 45 or less on the index.
About the Index
- The Corruption Perception Index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople, uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
- This year, the index found that more than two-thirds of countries score below 50, with an average score of 43.
- India’s score of 40 in 2017 puts it below the global average.
Ranking of nations
Rank Nation Score
1 New Zealand 89
2 Denmark 88
3 Finland 85
77 China 41
81 India 40
117 Pakistan 32
180 Somalia 9
About Transparency International
- The Transparency International was established in 1993.
- The headquarts of this organisation is in Berlin, Germany.
