Transparency International placed Cyprus in 38th place among 180 countries in its 2018 Corruption Perception Index.
With a score of 59/100, Cyprus improved by four places compared to the 2017 Index, when it was ranked 42nd.
The 2018 CPI draws on 13 surveys and expert assessments to measure public sector corruption in 180 countries and territories, giving each a score from zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
2018 HIGHLIGHTS
Denmark and New Zealand top the Index with 88 and 87 points, respectively.
Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria are at the bottom of the index, with 10, 13 and 13 points, respectively.
More than two-thirds of countries score below 50, with an average score of only 43. Since 2012, only 20 countries have significantly improved their scores, including Estonia and Côte D’Ivoire, and 16 have significantly declined, including, Australia, Chile and Malta.
With a score of 71, the United States lost four points since last year, dropping out of the top 20 countries on the CPI for the first time since 2011.
The highest scoring region is Western Europe and the European Union, with an average score of 66, while the lowest scoring regions are Sub-Saharan Africa (average score 32) and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (average score 35).
Click on a country to see its score
EU
Greece was the European Union member state that saw the biggest decrease in annual rankings measuring perceptions of corruption across the world.
It dropped three points in a year and is one of five countries in the bloc considered to be more corrupt than it is clean.
Transparency International’s rankings listed Bulgaria as the EU country where corruption is felt the most.
Greece is the second worst in the bloc followed by Hungary, Romania and Croatia.
“Our research makes a clear link between having a healthy democracy and successfully fighting public sector corruption,” said Delia Ferreira Rubio, Chair of Transparency International. “Corruption is much more likely to flourish where democratic foundations are weak and, as we have seen in many countries, where undemocratic and populist politicians can use it to their advantage.”
