On January 28, 2021, the Transparency International released the 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) where India’s rank slipped to 86th with a score of 40 from 80th rank with score of 41 in 2019 stating a low position as CPI uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
- The list has been topped by New Zealand and Denmark rank at the first position with scores of 88 stating minimum corruption levels.
- Contrarily, Somalia and South Sudan rank lowest at 179th position with scores of 12.
CPI ranked 180 countries and territories on the basis of levels of public sector corruption, 13 expert assessments and surveys of business executives.
Following table shows the countries with top score:
| Rank | Country | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 86 | India, Morocco, Burkina Faso, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, and Timor-Leste
| 40 |
| 1 | New Zealand, Denmark | 88 |
| 3 | Finland, Switzerland, and Singapore | 85 |
| 7 | Norway | 84 |
| 8 | Netherlands | 82 |
| 9 | Luxembourg, and Germany | 80 |
The corruption deprives the global health sector of US$500 billion every year.
Key Points:
–26 countries improved their CPI scores, including Ecuador (39), Greece (50), Guyana (41), Myanmar (28) and South Korea (61).
–22 countries decreased their scores, including Bosnia & Herzegovina (35), Guatemala (25), Lebanon (25), Malawi (30), Malta (53) and Poland (56).
–Nearly half of countries remained stagnant on the index for almost a decade, indicating less government efforts to tackle the root causes of corruption.
Recommendations:
As no country is free from corruption therefore Transparency International recommends that all governments:
–Strengthen oversight institutions to ensure resources reach those most in need.
–Ensure contracting of wrongdoing, identify conflicts of interest and provide fair pricing.
–Promote civic space to create enabling conditions to hold governments accountable.
–Publish relevant data to ensure the public receives easy, accessible, timely and meaningful information.
About Corruption Perception Index (CPI):
Since its inception in 1995, the Corruption Perceptions Index has become the leading global indicator of public sector corruption. It should be noted that CPI does not reflect actual real corruption level in any country.180 nations were surveyed for CPI Index.
Recent Related News:
i.As per the Consumer Price Index(CPI) data released by the Government of India, India’s retail inflation based on the CPI declined to 6.93% in November 2020 from 7.61% in October 2020.
ii.On December 7, 2020, a non-profit, non-governmental organization, Germanwatch has released the 16th edition of Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) i.e. CCPI 2021 for 57 countries and European Union (EU) in which India was ranked at 10th spot with a score of 63.98 out of 100.
About Transparency International:
Interim Managing Director– Daniel
Headquarter– Berlin, Germany
