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Let's get straight to the point: No country gets close to a perfect score in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2016.

Over two-thirds of the 176 countries and territories in this year's index fall below the midpoint of our scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). The global average score is a paltry 43, indicating endemic corruption in a country's public sector. Top-scoring countries (yellow in the map below) are far outnumbered by ...

Regional analysis by Kate Hanlon, Transparency International

The majority of Asia Pacific countries sit in the bottom half of the Corruption Perceptions Index 2016. 19 out of 30 countries in the region scored 40 or less out of 100. 

Poor performance can be attributed to unaccountable governments, lack of oversight, insecurity and shrinking space for civil society, pushing anti-corruption action to the margins in those countries. High-profile corruption scandals, in addition to everyday ...

Regional analysis by Jessica Ebrard, Transparency International

It is not always bad to have headlines about corruption. From the Panama Papers in April to the record US$3.5 billion Odebrecht settlement in Brazil in December, 2016 was a good year in the fight against corruption in the Americas. 

The Panama Papers revealed that a Panamanian law firm helped set up thousands of secret shell companies, many of them used by corrupt politicians, criminals and tax abusers around the world. The ...

Regional analysis by Paul Banoba, Transparency International

The elections held across Africa in 2016 provide a good reflection of corruption trends in the region.

In countries like Ghana, which is the second worst decliner in the 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index in the region, the dissatisfaction of citizens with the government’s corruption record was reflected in their voting at the polls. South Africa, which continues to stagnate this year, has witnessed the same. Joseph Kabila’s ...

Regional analysis by Kinda Hattar, Transparency International

Despite the political changes that shook the Arab region six years ago, the hope for Arab countries to fight corruption and end impunity has not seen any progress yet. On the contrary, the majority of Arab countries have failed to fulfil the will of the people to build democratic systems allowing for greater transparency and accountability.

The failure to fight corruption explains the sharp drop of most of Arab countries in the ...

Regional analysis by Conny Abel, Svetlana Savitskaya and Valentina Rigamonti of Transparency International

There are no drastic changes in Europe and Central Asia in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2016, with only a few exceptions. However, this does not mean that the region is immune from corruption. The stagnation does not indicate that the fight against corruption has improved, but quite the opposite.

High-profile scandals associated with corruption, misuse of public funds or unethical ...

On 20 January US President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn into office, bringing with him his son-in-law as his senior adviser and a cabinet full of multi-millionaires and billionaires with little political experience and problematic business relationships.

When asked recently about potential conflicts of interest in his cabinet picks, Trump responded: “I want to bring the greatest people into government… We don’t make good deals anymore.”

By “good deals” is he referring to ExxonMobil ...

When there is someone there to help, things can change. When there is someone there to fight, the corrupt can be held to account even if they are rich and powerful.

Transparency International helps everyone combat corruption around the world.

We help ordinary people.

We have Advocacy and Legal Advice Centres (ALACs) which have helped 250,000 people in 60 countries around the world. Here are some of our ALAC workers:

We help people understand that corruption hurts the poorest.

In 2008, Victor van Wulfen, former F-16 and C-130 pilot, the latter at Eindhoven Air Base, noted that fellow pilots were untrained and did not always follow safety procedures. Although required by law, procedures were non-existent or at best poorly defined at Eindhoven Air Base. This lack of procedures regularly yielded dangerous situations in the air. Van Wulfen was determined to expose these safety issues. After almost five years of manipulation and intimidation, in which Van Wulfen was sent ...

From Spain to the UK and Turkey, support for populist and nationalist movements is on the rise in Europe and Central Asia. While the reasons are manifold and complex, corruption is central to the story – both the failure of governments to properly address corruption and their complicity in corrupt or clientelist schemes.

For our new report People and Corruption: Europe and Central Asia, Transparency International spoke to nearly 60,000 citizens in 42 countries in Europe and Central Asia about ...

Together we can work to end corruption, overcoming widespread injustice and impunity. Sign the Declaration Against Corruption.