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Since 1995, Transparency International has published an annual 'Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI)'^[1] ordering the countries of the world according to "the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians". Frequently Asked Questions: TI Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI 2005) The organization defines corruption as "the abuse of public office for private gain".
The 2003 poll covered 133 countries; the 2006 survey, 163. A higher score means less (perceived) corruption. The results show seven out of every ten countries (and nine out of every ten developing countries) with an index of less than 5 points out of 10.

Contents

Methods and interpretation

Countries perceived to be least and most corrupt

Alphabetical listing

References

See also

External links

Methods and interpretation

Transparency International commissioned Johann Graf Lambsdorff of the University of Passau to produce the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). The CPI 2005 draws on "16 different polls and surveys from 10 independent institutions… The institutions who provided data for the CPI 2005 are: Columbia University, Economist Intelligence Unit, Freedom House, Information International, International Institute for Management Development, Merchant International Group, Political and Economic Risk Consultancy, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, World Economic Forum and World Markets Research Centre. Early CPIs used public opinion surveys, but now only "experts" are used. TI requires at least three sources to be available in order to rank a country in the CPI.
"TI writes in their FAQ on the CPI that "residents' viewpoints correlate well with those of experts abroad. In the past, the experts surveyed in the CPI sources were often business people from industrialised countries; the viewpoint of less developed countries was underrepresented. This has changed over time, giving increasingly voice to respondents from emerging market economies."
As this index is based on polls, the results are subjective and are less reliable for countries with fewer sources. Also, what is legally defined, or perceived, to be corruption differs between jurisdictions: a political donation legal in some jurisdiction may be illegal in another; a matter viewed as acceptable tipping in one country may be viewed as bribery in another. Thus the poll results must be understood quite specifically as measuring public perception rather than being an objective measure of corruption.
Statistics like this are necessarily imprecise; statistics from different years are not necessarily comparable. The ICCR itself explains, "…year-to-year changes in a country's score result not only from a changing perception of a country's performance but also from a changing sample and methodology. Each year, some sources are not updated and must be dropped from the CPI, while new, reliable sources are added. With differing respondents and slightly differing methodologies, a change in a country's score may also relate to the fact that different viewpoints have been collected and different questions been asked… [despite] anti-corruption reform… [or] recent exposure of corruption scandals… [i]t is often difficult to improve a CPI score over a short time period, such as one or two years. The CPI is based on data from the past three years (for more on this, see the question on the sources of data, below). This means that a change in perceptions of corruption would only emerge in the index over longer periods of time". ICCR FAQ

Countries perceived to be least and most corrupt

According to the 2006 Survey, the countries perceived to be least corrupt are:

★ 1/163

★ 4/163

★ 5/163

★ 6/163

★ 7/163

★ 8/163

★ 9/163
According to the 2006 Survey, the countries perceived to be most corrupt are:

★ 151/163

★ 156/163

★ 160/163

★ 163/163

Alphabetical listing

References

1. Corruption Perception Report accessed on January 9 2007

See also

★ Bribe Payers Index

★ List of countries by Corruption Perceptions Index

External links

★ Internet Center for Corruption Research

★ Transparency International 2004 Corruption Perceptions Index

★ Transparency International 2005 Corruption Perceptions Index

★ Transparency International 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index

★ Survey instrument to measure disaggregated corruption indicators