The Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International mapped 176 countries to figure out the level of corruption on a scale of 0 (very clean) to 100 (highly corrupt) and states that “no country is close to a perfect score in the Index for 2016”
Singapore was the only Asian country to make the top ten of least corrupt countries in the world. In Asia, it is followed by Australia, Japan, Bhutan and Brunei.
But the majority of Asia Pacific countries are in the bottom half of the Corruption Perceptions Index for 2016. .
North Korea, closely followed by Afghanistan and Cambodia are the most corrupt Asian countries on the list, with a global ranking of 174.
Cambodia, for the second year is the most corrupt South East Asian country on the list.
Thailand’s ranking dropped as well, reinforcing the link between perceived corruption and political turmoil.
The report highlights that higher-ranked countries tend to have higher degrees of press freedom, access to information about public expenditure and the lower-ranked countries are plagued by untrustworthy and badly functioning public institutions. Police and judiciary are also a concern.
Denmark and New Zealand are ranked as the number one least corrupt countries in the world. And they are followed by, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland.
Somalia has held on to the most undesirable title as the world’s most corrupt country.