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Corruption Perceptions Index 2025: Stalling anti-corruption progress in Asia Pacific while public anger surges

Berlin, 10 February 2026 – Corruption continues to pose a serious threat in the Asia Pacific region, according to the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released today by Transparency International. With an average regional score of 45 out of 100, high levels of corruption appear to have remained largely unaddressed over the past decade.

Frustration within the region at weak governance and limited accountability were clearly felt in 2025, with a surge in young people taking to the streets to demand action and accountability from their governments. In climate-change impacted Philippines (32), citizens were outraged by allegations that a substantial amount of public funds were lost to a fake flood relief project. In Indonesia (34), a dozen people died and hundreds were injured as anti-government protests were met with violence and disinformation, whilst protest movements in Nepal (34) brought down the government following a widespread social media ban and growing frustrations around corruption.

Uniting these movements was a sense that those in charge were abusing their power for private interests, while failing to deliver decent public services, a stable economy and fair opportunities for citizens.

Countries such as Maldives (39), Vietnam (41) and Timor Leste (44) show a consistent and statistically significant upward rise since 2012, due to structural reforms that have strengthened oversight institutions, or in the case of Vietnam, due to effective management of petty corruption. However, these countries continue to score on the lower range of the index, with much room for improvement.

Elsewhere in the region, fragile states such as Afghanistan (16), Myanmar (16) and North Korea (15) continue to score at the bottom of the index. Restricted civic space, opaque political finance systems and a lack of democratic checks and balances and independent judiciary, continue to leave these countries particularly vulnerable to corruption.

Ilham Mohamed, Asia Pacific Adviser of Transparency International said:

"In many countries across Asia Pacific, good governance is being undermined by weak law enforcement, unaccountable leadership and opacity in political funding. With young people demanding better, leaders must act now to curb corruption and strengthen democracy. Meaningful reforms can rebuild public trust and show those in power are finally listening."

Transparency International is calling for countries to implement a new UN resolution on preventing and combating corruption through enhancing transparency in the funding of political parties, public office candidates and electoral campaigns, which countries adopted as part of the UN Convention Against Corruption conference in December. The Asian Electoral Stakeholders Forum in April is a key opportunity for election authorities to commit to the implementation of this resolution.

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).

  • Since 2012, eight of the 32 countries have significantly improved, including Bhutan (71), Brunei (63) and Laos (34).
  • Both Thailand (33) and Mongolia (31), continue to score badly and show a consistent downward trend in score since 2012. In Mongolia, there has been a decline in rule of law and accountability, alongside increasing restrictions on civic space.
  • Top scorers in the region are Singapore (84), New Zealand (81) and Australia (76) which rank third, fourth and 12th in the world, respectively.
  • Countries with low scores at the bottom of the index include Afghanistan (16), Myanmar (16) and North Korea (15).
  • The majority of nations in the region (21 out of 31) score below the global average of 42, including major democracies like India (39), Bangladesh (24) and Indonesia (34).

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.

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

In December 2025, governments gathered in Doha for the 11th Conference of the States Parties (CoSP11) to the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). Transparency International was among several organisations calling on delegates to commit to integrity in the funding of political parties and candidates.

INTERVIEW REQUESTS

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

For country-specific queries, please contact Transparency International's national chapters.

ABOUT THE CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS INDEX

Since its inception in 1995, Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index has become the leading global indicator of public sector corruption. The index scores 182 countries and territories around the world based on perceptions of public sector corruption, using data from 13 external sources, including the World Bank, World Economic Forum, private risk and consulting companies, think tanks and others. The scores reflect the views of experts and business people.

The process for calculating the CPI is regularly reviewed to make sure it is as robust and coherent as possible, most recently by the European Commission's Join Research Centre in 2017. All CPI scores since 2012 are comparable from one year to the next. For more information, see this article: The ABCs of the CPI: How the Corruption Perceptions Index is calculated.