Berlin, 3 December 2014 – Corruption is a problem for all economies, requiring leading financial centres in the EU and US to act together with fast-growing economies to stop the corrupt from getting away with it, anti-corruption group Transparency International said today.

In the 20th edition of the Corruption Perceptions Index, scores for China (with a score of 36 out of 100), Turkey (45) and Angola (19) were among the biggest fallers with a drop of 4 or 5 points, despite average economic growth of more than 4 per cent over the last four years. Click here for the full index

“The 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index shows that economic growth is undermined and efforts to stop corruption fade when leaders and high level officials abuse power to appropriate public funds for personal gain,” said José Ugaz, the chair of Transparency International.

“Corrupt officials smuggle ill-gotten assets into safe havens through offshore companies with absolute impunity,” Ugaz added. “Countries at the bottom need to adopt radical anti-corruption measures in favour of their people. Countries at the top of the index should make sure they don’t export corrupt practices to underdeveloped countries.”

More than two thirds of the 175 countries in the 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index score below 50, on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean). Denmark comes out on top in 2014 with a score of 92 while North Korea and Somalia share last place, scoring just eight.

The scores of several countries rose or fell by four points or more. The biggest falls were in Turkey (-5), Angola, China, Malawi and Rwanda (all -4). The biggest improvers were Côte d´Ivoire, Egypt, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (+5), Afghanistan, Jordan, Mali and Swaziland (+4).

The Corruption Perceptions Index is based on expert opinions of public sector corruption. Countries’ scores can be helped by open government where the public can hold leaders to account, while a poor score is a sign of prevalent bribery, lack of punishment for corruption and public institutions that don’t respond to citizens’ needs.
Corruption in emerging economies

China’s score fell to 36 in 2014 from 40 in 2013, despite the fact the Chinese government launched an anti-corruption campaign targeting corrupt public officials. The government has recognized the need to follow officials who hide ill-gotten gains overseas. This January, leaked documents revealed 22,000 offshore clients from China and Hong Kong, including many of the country’s leaders.

The score matches a poor performance by Chinese companies in Transparency International’s recent report on corporate disclosure practices where all eight Chinese companies scored less than three out of ten.

Corruption and money laundering are also problems for the other BRIC countries. This year has seen questions raised related to a major oil company using secret companies to bribe politicians in Brazil (which scores 43), questions about Indians (38) using bank accounts in Mauritius (54) and Russians (27) doing the same in Cyprus (63).

“Grand corruption in big economies not only blocks basic human rights for the poorest but also creates governance problems and instability. Fast-growing economies whose governments refuse to be transparent and tolerate corruption, create a culture of impunity in which corruption thrives,” said Ugaz.
Countries on top must fight global corruption

Transparency International called on countries at the top of the index where public sector corruption is limited to stop encouraging it elsewhere by doing more to prevent money laundering and to stop secret companies from masking corruption.

While top performer Denmark has strong rule of law, support for civil society and clear rules governing the behaviour of those in public positions, it also set an example this November, announcing plans to create a public register including beneficial ownership information for all companies incorporated in Denmark. This measure, similar to those announced by Ukraine and the UK, will make it harder for the corrupt to hide behind companies registered in another person’s name.

The anti-corruption group is currently running a campaign to Unmask the Corrupt, urging European Union, United States and G20 countries to follow Denmark’s lead and create public registers that would make clear who really controls, or is the beneficial owner, of every company.

“None of us would fly on planes that do not register passengers, yet we allow secret companies to conceal illegal activity. Public registers that show who really owns a company would make it harder for the corrupt to take off with the spoils of their abuse of power,” said Transparency International Managing Director Cobus de Swardt.

Transparency International is the global civil society organisation leading the fight against corruption.

FULL LIST
Rank Country 2014 2013 2012 SCORES
1 Denmark 92 91 90
2 New Zealand 91 91 90
3 Finland 89 89 90
4 Sweden 87 89 88
5 Norway 86 86 85
5 Switzerland 86 85 86
7 Singapore 84 86 87
8 Netherlands 83 83 84
9 Luxembourg 82 80 80
10 Canada 81 81 84
11 Australia 80 81 85
12 Germany 79 78 79
12 Iceland 79 78 82
14 United Kingdom 78 76 74
15 Belgium 76 75 75
15 Japan 76 74 74
17 Barbados 74 75 76
17 Hong Kong 74 75 77
17 Ireland 74 72 69
17 United States 74 73 73
21 Chile 73 71 72
21 Uruguay 73 73 72
23 Austria 72 69 69
24 Bahamas 71 71 71
25 United Arab Emirates 70 69 68
26 Estonia 69 68 64
26 France 69 71 71
26 Qatar 69 68 68
29 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 67 62 62
30 Bhutan 65 63 63
31 Botswana 63 64 65
31 Cyprus 63 63 66
31 Portugal 63 62 63
31 Puerto Rico 63 62 63
35 Poland 61 60 58
35 Taiwan 61 61 61
37 Israel 60 61 60
37 Spain 60 59 65
39 Dominica 58 58 58
39 Lithuania 58 57 54
39 Slovenia 58 57 61
42 Cape Verde 57 58 60
43 Korea (South) 55 55 56
43 Latvia 55 53 49
43 Malta 55 56 57
43 Seychelles 55 54 52
47 Costa Rica 54 53 54
47 Hungary 54 54 55
47 Mauritius 54 52 57
50 Georgia 52 49 52
50 Malaysia 52 50 49
50 Samoa 52 #N/A #N/A
53 Czech Republic 51 48 49
54 Slovakia 50 47 46
55 Bahrain 49 48 51
55 Jordan 49 45 48
55 Lesotho 49 49 45
55 Namibia 49 48 48
55 Rwanda 49 53 53
55 Saudi Arabia 49 46 44
61 Croatia 48 48 46
61 Ghana 48 46 45
63 Cuba 46 46 48
64 Oman 45 47 47
64 The FYR of Macedonia 45 44 43
64 Turkey 45 50 49
67 Kuwait 44 43 44
67 South Africa 44 42 43
69 Brazil 43 42 43
69 Bulgaria 43 41 41
69 Greece 43 40 36
69 Italy 43 43 42
69 Romania 43 43 44
69 Senegal 43 41 36
69 Swaziland 43 39 37
76 Montenegro 42 44 41
76 Sao Tome and Principe 42 42 42
78 Serbia 41 42 39
79 Tunisia 40 41 41
80 Benin 39 36 36
80 Bosnia and Herzegovina 39 42 42
80 El Salvador 39 38 38
80 Mongolia 39 38 36
80 Morocco 39 37 37
85 Burkina Faso 38 38 38
85 India 38 36 36
85 Jamaica 38 38 38
85 Peru 38 38 38
85 Philippines 38 36 34
85 Sri Lanka 38 37 40
85 Thailand 38 35 37
85 Trinidad and Tobago 38 38 39
85 Zambia 38 38 37
94 Armenia 37 36 34
94 Colombia 37 36 36
94 Egypt 37 32 32
94 Gabon 37 34 35
94 Liberia 37 38 41
94 Panama 37 35 38
100 Algeria 36 36 34
100 China 36 40 39
100 Suriname 36 36 37
103 Bolivia 35 34 34
103 Mexico 35 34 34
103 Moldova 35 35 36
103 Niger 35 34 33
107 Argentina 34 34 35
107 Djibouti 34 36 36
107 Indonesia 34 32 32
110 Albania 33 31 33
110 Ecuador 33 35 32
110 Ethiopia 33 33 33
110 Kosovo 33 33 34
110 Malawi 33 37 37
115 Côte d´Ivoire 32 27 29
115 Dominican Republic 32 29 32
115 Guatemala 32 29 33
115 Mali 32 28 34
119 Belarus 31 29 31
119 Mozambique 31 30 31
119 Sierra Leone 31 30 31
119 Tanzania 31 33 35
119 Vietnam 31 31 31
124 Guyana 30 27 28
124 Mauritania 30 30 31
126 Azerbaijan 29 28 27
126 Gambia 29 28 34
126 Honduras 29 26 28
126 Kazakhstan 29 26 28
126 Nepal 29 31 27
126 Pakistan 29 28 27
126 Togo 29 29 30
133 Madagascar 28 28 32
133 Nicaragua 28 28 29
133 Timor-Leste 28 30 33
136 Cameroon 27 25 26
136 Iran 27 25 28
136 Kyrgyzstan 27 24 24
136 Lebanon 27 28 30
136 Nigeria 27 25 27
136 Russia 27 28 28
142 Comoros 26 28 28
142 Uganda 26 26 29
142 Ukraine 26 25 26
145 Bangladesh 25 27 26
145 Guinea 25 24 24
145 Kenya 25 27 27
145 Laos 25 26 21
145 Papua New Guinea 25 25 25
150 Central African Republic 24 25 26
150 Paraguay 24 24 25
152 Congo, Republic of 23 22 26
152 Tajikistan 23 22 22
154 Chad 22 19 19
154 Congo, Democratic Republic of 22 22 21
156 Cambodia 21 20 22
156 Myanmar 21 21 15
156 Zimbabwe 21 21 20
159 Burundi 20 21 19
159 Syria 20 17 26
161 Angola 19 23 22
161 Guinea-Bissau 19 19 25
161 Haiti 19 19 19
161 Venezuela 19 20 19
161 Yemen 19 18 23
166 Eritrea 18 20 25
166 Libya 18 15 21
166 Uzbekistan 18 17 17
169 Turkmenistan 17 17 17
170 Iraq 16 16 18
171 South Sudan 15 14 #N/A
172 Afghanistan 12 8 8
173 Sudan 11 11 13
174 Korea (North) 8 8 8
174 Somalia 8 8 8



http://www.transparency.org/cpi2014/press