Two-Thirds of Countries Face High Level of Corruption – Watchdog

"Of the 180 countries assessed in the 2017 index, more than two-thirds score below 50. This means over six billion people live in countries that are corrupt," the watchdog said.

The watchdog’s data specified that 69 percent of the countries scored below 50 points on the index in 2017, while the average score was 43.

The index uses a scale starting from zero, which means that the country is "highly corrupt," going up to 100, which implies that a state's public sector is "very clean."

Countries With the Highest Corruption Level

New Zealand topped the 2017 ranking receiving 89 points on the scale. Denmark received 88 points and made it to the top three positions alongside Finland, Norway, Switzerland and Singapore, all garnering 85 points on the scale.

Somalia is in the bottom of the ranking with its 9 points, falling behind war-torn Syria and South Sudan, which got 14 and 12 points respectively.

In its report, Transparency International noted the high level of contrast between the countries' results.

Russia ranks 135th in the 2017 index with 29 points alongside the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, and Paraguay, which also received the same result.

In 2016, Transparency International put Russia at the 131st position.

Several countries have however made progress on the scale over the past year. Particularly, Barbados was placed in the 25th position in the 2017 ranking receiving 68 points, which is 7 points more than its result in 2016, when it got 61 points on the 31st position.

North Korea demonstrated a 5-point move along the scale in 2017, rising from the 174th position with 12 points in 2016 to the 171st position with 17 points in 2017.

The CPI was launched in 1995. The high-profile index ranks countries by the perception of levels of corruption on the basis of surveys and expert assessments.