Skip to main content

Corruption Perceptions Index 2025: Public sector corruption sees Sub-Saharan Africa face the highest corruption levels globally

Berlin, 10 February 2026 – Corruption remains a serious problem in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), released today by Transparency International. With an average score of 32 out of 100 and only four out of the 49 countries scoring above 50, Sub Saharan Africa is the lowest performing region on the global index of 182 countries. Ten of the 49 countries in the region have significantly worsened since 2012 and only seven have improved in the same period, highlighting that current anti-corruption efforts are not yielding expected results.

Transparency International is raising concern that corruption in the management of public funds reflects a lack of political integrity amongst leaders, hinders people’s ability to access key services and affects everyday life – impacting the most vulnerable people the hardest. To improve people’s lives, governments in the region should prioritise meaningful action to combat corruption and strengthen democracy.

In Madagascar (25), severe and ongoing corruption problems were a key trigger of Gen-Z uprisings that led to the government falling in October 2025. As protesters demanded change, they pointed to profit-making by leaders and their associates, misuse of public funds causing chronic failures in water, electricity and other services, lack of accountability and impunity for corrupt officials, and other systemic problems. 

Angola (32) has climbed 17 points on the CPI scale since 2015 through measures taken to crack down on corruption. However, while the country has made progress over the past decade, it still scores at the lower end of the index, with many Angolans rating their government’s anti-corruption efforts as insufficient and believing that ordinary people face a risk of retaliation for reporting corruption.

Gaps in anti-corruption systems and frameworks are further fuelling the mismanagement of public funds in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the Seychelles (68), the region’s top performer, there are growing concerns around the strength of anti-corruption measures following delays with investigating and prosecuting a case involving the alleged money laundering of US$50 million. Meanwhile, Mozambique (21) has seen a 10-point decline over the past decade. Official figures show that 334 new corruption cases were registered in the first quarter of 2025 at the cost of about US$4.1 million, pointing to the magnitude of the challenge.

Paul Banoba, Regional Advisor for Africa at Transparency International said:

“Public sector corruption always hits the most vulnerable people the hardest. Despite the African Union’s adoption of the Convention on Preventing and Combatting Corruption more than two decades ago, more needs to be done. African governments need to urgently translate anti-corruption commitments into decisive action by further strengthening accountability institutions and increasing transparency, protecting civic space and supporting public participation, along with necessary checks and balances on power.”

KEY FINDINGS FROM THE REGION:

The CPI ranks 182 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption on a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). 

  • At 68, the Seychelles remains the region’s highest scorer, followed by Cabo Verde (62), Botswana (58) and Rwanda (58).
  • The lowest scorers include Sudan (14), Eritrea (13), Somalia (9) and South Sudan (9).

NOTE TO EDITORS 

For each country’s individual score and changes over time, as well as global and regional analysis, see the CPI 2025 webpage: https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2025 (goes live at 07:01 CET, 10 February 2026).

The media page includes the CPI 2025 report, as well as the full dataset, methodology and graphics.

References to public perception of anti-corruption efforts in Angola were taken from a 2024 survey by Afrobarometer.

INTERVIEW REQUESTS

For queries around regional and global findings, please contact Transparency International’s press office: [email protected]