The 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) shows that anti-corruption efforts have stalled in most countries. The continued failure of most countries to significantly control corruption is contributing to a crisis of democracy around the world. More than two-thirds of the 180 countries covered by the CPI score below 50. Since 2012, only 20 countries have significantly improved their scores. Denmark and New Zealand top the 2018 Index, Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria are at the bottom of the index. The highest scoring region is Western Europe and the European Union, while the lowest scoring regions are Sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Aller à la publication Communiqué de presse Autres publications

Voilà 20 ans que la Convention anti-corruption de l’OCDE a été adoptée. Malgré l’importance accrue revêtue par cet accord à l’heure actuelle, les échanges transfrontaliers et les risques de corruption qui en découlent ont progressé. Dans son «Exporting Corruption Report 2018» publié ce jour, Transparency International compare le degré de mise en œuvre de la convention au sein de 43 pays. Le bilan dressé est décevant: la situation n’a guère évolué depuis la dernière étude, réalisée en 2015. L’objectif visé par la convention, à savoir l’élimination de la corruption entachant la concurrence dans le commerce mondial, est dès lors encore loin d’être atteint. Des lacunes sont aussi à combler par la Suisse. Aller à la publication Aller au communiqué de presse Autres publications

This year’s Corruption Perceptions Index highlights that the majority of countries are making little or no progress in ending corruption, while further analysis shows journalists and activists in corrupt countries risking their lives every day in an effort to speak out. The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople, uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean. This year, the index found that more than two-thirds of countries score below 50, with an average score of 43. Unfortunately, compared to recent years, this poor performance is nothing new. Aller à la publication Autres publications

Let’s get straight to the point: No country gets close to a perfect score in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2016. Over two-thirds of the 176 countries and territories in this year’s index fall below the midpoint of our scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). The global average score is a paltry 43, indicating endemic corruption in a country’s public sector. Top-scoring countries (yellow in the map below) are far outnumbered by orange and red countries where citizens face the tangible impact of corruption on a daily basis. Aller à la publication Autres publications

People and Corruption: Europe and Central Asia Europe has seen a surge in recent years of support for populist and nationalist movements – from Spain to the UK to Turkey. The reasons are manifold and complex, but are driven to a large degree by the belief that traditional democratic institutions – governments, political parties – are failing to deliver on promises of prosperity and equal opportunity and that they cannot be trusted. Corruption is central to this story – both the failure of governments to properly address corruption and their complicity in corrupt or clientelist schemes. It has become impossible to ignore systemic corruption in the way business influences politics, as shown by the on-going trial of 37 executives and politicians in Spain who are alleged to have been involved in a “kickbacks-for-contracts” scheme for nearly a decade. Examples such as this can give ordinary citizens the impression that public spending and public policy is distorted to favour the few over the many. This impression has been compounded by the prevalence of “cosier” forms of corruption, such as the conflict of interests – real and perceived – posed by hidden lobbying and the “revolving door” between the public and private...

2015 showed that people working together can succeed in fighting corruption. Although corruption is still rife globally, more countries improved their scores in 2015 than declined. Some countries have improved in recent years – Greece, Senegal and the UK are among those that have seen a significant increase in scores since 2012. Others, including Australia, Brazil, Libya, Spain and Turkey, have deteriorated. Dealing with many entrenched corruption issues, Brazil has been rocked by the Petrobras scandal, in which politicians are reported to have taken kickbacks in exchange for awarding public contracts. As the economy crunches, tens of thousands of ordinary Brazilians have lost their jobs already. They didn’t make the decisions that led to the scandal. But they’re the ones living with the consequences. Aller à la publication Autres publications

Every day, all over the world, ordinary people bear the cost of corruption. In many countries, corruption affects people from birth until death. In Zimbabwe, women giving birth in a local hospital have been charged US$5 every time they scream as a penalty for raising false alarm.1 In Bangladesh, the recent collapse of a multistory factory, which killed more than 1,100 people due to a breach of basic safety standards, has been linked to allegations of corruption. This report examines how corruption features in people’s lives around the world. Drawing on the results of a Transparency International survey of more than 114,000 respondents in 107 countries, it addresses people’s direct experiences with bribery and details their views on corruption in the main institutions in their countries. Significantly, Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer also provides insights into how willing and ready people are to act to stop corruption. The findings are clear: corruption is a very real burden, with more than one out of four respondents reporting having paid a bribe during the last year. When people are not in a position to afford a bribe, they might be prevented from buying a home, starting a business or accessing basic services. Corruption...