Corruption Perception Index: Calculation Method and Index by Year

The problem of corruption in government bodies and state structures is relevant for many states. To date, several effective mechanisms for controlling and countering the abuse of authority have been developed to gain benefits, bribery of officials and other actions that are contrary to the laws and moral standards, but the application of methods of fighting corruption in practice does not always bring the desired result.

However, there are many countries with a fairly low level of corruption. The most corrupt states and countries where there is virtually no corruption in the public sector are listed in the corruption perception index. An assessment of the level of corruption in states, the compilation and publication of relevant material is carried out by the non-governmental organization Transparency International. It is based in Berlin.

How is the corruption perception index calculated?

The indicators on the basis of which the rating of states is formed according to the level of perception of corruption are based on several independent surveys. The index of perception of corruption (CPI - abbreviated) is based on the opinion of authoritative experts in the field of finance and law. Experts from the World Bank, the African and Asian Development Banks, the American non-governmental organization Freedom House, which studies civil and political freedoms, as well as monitors democratic changes in the world, participate in the rating.

The corruption perception index is a kind of "honesty of the authorities" scale. Each state that participates in the study is assigned an estimate from zero to one hundred points, where zero means the highest level of corruption, and one hundred points receive the least corrupt countries. Earlier, the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index was estimated to range from one to ten.

In open sources, the specific factors for assessing states are not published, so that you can only read the final rating. In addition, there is no universal methodology for calculating the indicator, because the final assessment, according to the organization TI, takes into account the national characteristics of a state.

Formation of a rating of the countries on an index of perception of corruption

The rating for such indicator, as the index of perception of corruption, in 2016 included one hundred and seventy-six states. Published data, ranking states, are used to assess the level of progress in countering corruption, as well as the situation of a certain country with respect to neighboring states, political and economic partners and competitors.

The least corrupt countries according to TI

The index of perception of corruption is the largest (ninety points) in the Scandinavian countries, New Zealand, Switzerland. The first place is occupied by Denmark, followed by New Zealand, Finland by third, followed by Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Singapore, the Netherlands. The top ten leaders are Great Britain with a final rating of eighty-one points.

The twenty-first index of perceptions of corruption, published in late January 2017, differs little from previous years for states that hold leadership positions. In general, the positions in the rating are extremely rarely changed radically.

Corruption in Russia according to Transparency International

For Russia, the corruption perception index has been calculated since 1996, when the rating was formed from fifty-four countries. Then Russia was in forty-sixth - forty-seventh place with a result of two point sixty-tenths. The dynamics of the change in the indicator is not marked by either rapid ups and downs. Unless there is a jump on the borders of 2000 and 2001, when the index from two whole and one tenth point rose to two whole and seven tenths.

The minimal index of perception of corruption (according to the rating until 2014), which is two points and one-tenth, was fixed in 2000, 2008, 2010. The maximum value (two whole and eight tenths) reached in 2004, 2012 and 2013. The same values in different years were in India, Honduras, Ecuador, Mozambique, Georgia, Gambia, Nepal, Albania, Niger and others.

TI press releases note that the situation with corruption in Russia has reached such an alarming scale that it affects not only the state apparatus, but also the health care, education, law enforcement agencies, the economy, as well as the very statehood of the Russian Federation.

In 2017, the corruption perception index (Russia did not change its positions) was calculated for one hundred and seventy-six countries. The Russian Federation is located on the one hundred and thirty first place with a score of twenty-nine points out of a possible one hundred.

The Index of the Rule of Law according to the World Justice Project

According to the study of the rule of law conducted by the World Justice Project, Russia took ninety-second place out of ninety-seven states. Worst of all, the security and effectiveness of law enforcement agencies, as well as the effectiveness of limiting the powers of the authorities. The situation is not in the best of terms for such factors:

• Protection of human rights (eighty-third place);
• Criminal proceedings (seventy-eighth place);
• Openness of the government (the family is fourth);
• Level of corruption (seventy-first place);
• Enforcement (sixty-eighth place);
• Civil proceedings (sixty-fifth place).

The place of the post-Soviet states in the rating of corruption

The index of perception of corruption was also calculated for the countries of the post-Soviet space. So, Ukraine got twenty nine points and took one hundred thirty-first place out of a possible one hundred and seventy-six, Belarus - seventy-ninth place (forty points), Kazakhstan - one hundred and thirty-first place (twenty-nine points), Moldova - one hundred and twenty-third place (thirty points ), Uzbekistan - one hundred and fifty-sixth place (twenty-one points), Turkmenistan - one hundred fifty-fourth place (twenty-two points), Tajikistan - one hundred fifty-first place (twenty-five points).

The most corrupt states

Rating TI ranked among the most corrupt states of Somalia, South Sudan, North Korea, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Afghanistan. In general, the countries of Africa and Asia were in the backyard of the rating. Among the European countries, Bosnia and Herzegovina (eighty-third and thirty-nine points), Albania (eighty-third place, also thirty-nine points), Bulgaria (seventy-fifth place and forty-one points) are at the lowest positions.

In countries with high levels of corruption, the use of office, abuse of authority and bribery are the norm not only in all power structures, but also in other areas, human rights are often violated, and the gross domestic product per capita is extremely low.