Corruption Perception Index

The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index published annually by Transparency International since 1995 which ranks countries "by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys." The CPI generally defines corruption as "the misuse of public power for private benefit".

The CPI currently ranks 176 countries "on a scale from 100 (very clean) to 0 (highly corrupt)". Denmark is the least corrupt country, the Nordic nation is followed closely by New Zealand, Finland, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland. The ranking consistently high among international financial transparency, while the most perceived corrupt country in the world is Somalia, ranking at 9–10 out of 100 since 2017.

But no country is completely free of corruption, according to the latest report by Transparency International. Even Denmark has experienced recent corruption cases, the report authors note, such as a money-laundering scandal surrounding Danske Bank, its biggest lender.

India is the 78 least corrupt nation out of 175 countries, according to the 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index reported by Transparency International. Corruption Rank in India averaged 75.67 from 1995 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 95 in 2011 and a record low of 35 in 1995.

Transparency International, an NGO founded in order to combat global corruption, said that countries with higher rates of corruption have weaker democratic institutions and political rights. Managing Director Patricia Moreira says: “Corruption chips away at democracy to produce a vicious cycle, where corruption undermines democratic institutions and, in turn, weak institutions are less able to control corruption.”

The NGO calls on governments to strengthen institutions that maintain checks and balances over political power; enforce anti-corruption legislation; and support civil society, and a free and independent media.The Corruption Perceptions Index ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, according to experts and business people, with a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.