Corruption Perceptions Index

The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index that scores and ranks countries by their perceived levels of public sector^[1] corruption, as assessed by experts and business executives.^[2] The CPI generally defines corruption as an "abuse of entrusted power for private gain".^[3]: 2 The index is published annually by the non-governmental organisation Transparency International since 1995.^[4]

Since 2012, the Corruption Perceptions Index has been ranked on a scale from 100 (very clean) to 0 (highly corrupt). Previously, the index was scored on a scale of 10 to 0; it was originally rounded to two decimal spaces from 1995-1997 and to a single decimal space from 1998.

Since 2012, published in February 2025, currently ranks 180 countries "on a scale from 100 (very clean) to 0 (highly corrupt)" based on the situation between 1 May 2023 and 30 April 2024.

Denmark, Finland, Singapore, New Zealand, Luxembourg, Norway, Switzerland and Sweden, (all scoring above 80 over the last four years), are perceived as the least corrupt nations in the world — ranking consistently high among international financial transparency — while the most apparently corrupt is South Sudan (scoring 8), along with Somalia (9) and Venezuela (10).^[5]

Although the CPI is currently the most widely used indicator of corruption globally, it is worth emphasizing that there are some limitations. First, the CPI does not distinguish between individual types of corruption (some are not even included in the index) and people's perceptions do not necessarily correspond to the actual level of corruption. To get a more comprehensive picture, the CPI should be used alongside other assessments. Furthermore, the CPI is better suited for analyzing long-term trends, as perceptions tend to change slowly.^[6]