Corruption is worsening globally, with even established democracies experiencing rising corruption amid a decline in leadership against corruption, according to Transparency International’s 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index. This annual index shows that the number of countries scoring above 80 has shrunk from 12 a decade ago to just five this year. High CPI scores do not guarantee that countries are corruption-free, as several top-scoring nations enable corruption in other countries by facilitating the laundering and transfer of proceeds of corruption across borders, which the CPI does not cover. For example, Switzerland (80) and Singapore (84) are among the top scorers, but have faced scrutiny for facilitating the movement of dirty money.
