Best/Worst
Corruption Perceptions Index by Country 2025
Corruption Perception Index Score 2024
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- The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) ranks 180 countries and territories around the world by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, scoring on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (little or no corruption).
- The CPI adopted whole-number scores beginning with the 2012 index.
- Higher CPI scores indicate less corruption.
Transparency International created the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) to highlight levels of corruption in 180 countries. The CPI ranks countries on a scale of corruption with a score of 0 corresponding to the greatest corruption and 100 to the least corrupt. Ideally, countries should have higher scores and less corruption.
The Difficulties of Measuring Corruption
By its nature, corruption involves illegal activity hidden from public view. Therefore, quantifiable values for corruption within countries are not available. However, data on the public perception of a nation’s corruption is readily available from independent sources.
The CPI uses this information on how these independent parties view possible corruption in various countries to identify places where corruption likely occurs.
How the CPI Measures Corruption
The CPI uses data from 13 sources that examine the business climates and governing of various countries. These independent sources provide published data on public perceptions of corruption within various countries.
To assess the published data, Transparency International uses a series of research-backed questions to measure the public perception of potential forms of corruption. The CPI can spot corruption in many forms, including bribery, prosecution of corrupt officials, improper use of public funds, ability of governments to contain corruption, and lack of protections for whistleblowers. It does not, however, take surveys of a nation’s citizens for their opinions.
Transparency International combines and averages the data from three to 13 of its independent sources for each country to normalize the data and eliminate outlying values. The CPI then ranks the nations based on their scores.
Changes Over Time in the CPI Values
Globally, the CPI has remained relatively stagnant in 2024 with an average for all 180 countries of 43. This score has remained the same for the last twelve years, showing reluctance to address corruption concerns. In fact, 148 countries have kept the same scores or dropped since 2012.
Nations with the Greatest CPI Scores
For 2025, the most recent CPI ranking comes from 2024. That year, Denmark had the highest score of 90. Finland placed second at 88, and Singapore earned the third spot with a score of 84. New Zealand scored 83, placing fourth globally, and Switzerland and Norway tied for fifth place, sharing a CPI value of 81.
Countries that Have the Lowest CPI Scores
In 2024, South Sudan had the lowest international rank on the CPI, finishing last with a score of 8. Somalia placed penultimate with a CPI of 9, and Venezuela – third with a score of 10, earning the 178th place.
