The 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. More than two-thirds of countries score below 50 on this year’s CPI, with an average score of just 43.  

It reveals that the continued failure of most countries to significantly control corruption is contributing to a crisis in democracy around the world. While there are exceptions, the data shows that despite some progress, most countries are failing to make serious inroads against corruption. 

See previous CPI results.

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Index 2018

CPI Scale from Highly Corrupt to Very Clean

Highlights

Improvers

  • Estonia
  • Côte D’Ivoire
  • Senegal
  • Guyana

Decliners

  • Australia
  • Chile
  • Malta
  • Turkey
  • Mexico

Countries to watch

  • United States of America
  • Czech Republic
  • Brazil

Corruption is much more likely to flourish where democratic foundations are weak and, as we have seen in many countries, where undemocratic and populist politicians can use it to their advantage.

Delia Ferreira Rubio
Chair
Transparency International

The CPI in Detail

The full data set

Since its inception in 1995, the Corruption Perceptions Index, Transparency International’s flagship research product, has become the leading global indicator of public sector corruption. The index offers an annual snapshot of the relative degree of corruption by ranking countries and territories from all over the globe. In 2012, Transparency International revised the methodology used to construct the index to allow for comparison of scores from one year to the next. The 2018 CPI draws on 13 surveys and expert assessments to measure public sector corruption in 180 countries and territories, giving each a score from zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). 

# Country Region 2018 2017 2016 2015

Methodology

The methodology follows four basic steps: selection of source data, rescaling source data, aggregating the rescaled data and then reporting a measure for uncertainty. 

Relevant Topics

Press Release

The 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) reveals that the continued failure of most countries to significantly control corruption is contributing to a crisis of democracy around the world.

Full Press Release: Englishعربي | Español | Français | Русский 

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