BERLIN – China, Turkey and Angola are perceived as increasingly corrupt despite strong economic growth in recent years, a leading anti-graft watchdog organization said Wednesday in its annual survey.
Transparency International's 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index gave China 36 points out of 100, with 0 indicating a country is perceived to be highly corrupt and 100 that it is perceived to be very clean.
China fell four points compared with 2013, just like Angola, which scored 19 this year. Turkey fell five points to 45.
The index is based on expert opinions of public sector corruption, looking at a range of factors like whether governmental leaders are held to account or go unpunished for corruption, the perceived prevalence of bribery, and whether public institutions respond to citizens' needs.
"Countries at the bottom need to adopt radical anti-corruption measures in favor of their people," said Transparency's head, Jose Ugaz, in a statement. "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 ranked scored below 50, with North Korea and Somalia coming last, each with eight points. Others in the bottom 10 included South Sudan, Iraq, and Libya.
Denmark was the best ranked country with 92 points. Others in the top 10 included New Zealand, Finland, Sweden, Singapore and Canada. The United States improved slightly to 74 points, ranking 17th overall.
The countries that showed the greatest improvement were Ivory Coast, Egypt, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines — all of which rose five points. Afghanistan, which was in last place in 2013, rose four points, as did Jordan, Mali and Swaziland.
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http://www.transparency.org/cpi2014/
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