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.

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Vor 20 Jahren wurde die OECD-Anti-Korruptionskonvention verabschiedet. Sie ist heute wichtiger denn je, haben sich doch der grenzüberschreitende Wirtschaftsverkehr und die damit verbundenen Korruptionsrisiken seither nochmals vervielfacht. Mit dem heute veröffentlichten «Exporting Corruption Report 2018» untersucht Transparency International ländervergleichend den Stand der Umsetzung der Konvention auf nationaler Ebene. Die Ergebnisse zeigen ein ernüchterndes Bild: Seit der letzten Untersuchung 2015 wurden nur geringe Fortschritte erzielt. Das Konventionsziel eines korruptionsfreien Wettbewerbs im Welthandel bleibt deshalb weiterhin in grosser Ferne. Auch die Schweiz hat Hausaufgaben zu machen.

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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.

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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.

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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 sectors. The public outrage at the decision of former European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to accept a position with Goldman Sachs, which generated over 100,000 petition signatures calling for tough sanctions, shows how expectations about greater integrity in politics and business are mobilising citizen action. This report shines a light on how extensive citizens from across Europe and Central Asia perceive the corruption problem to be and what actions they consider to be effective in order to address it.

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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.

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Poorly equipped schools, counterfeit medicine and elections decided by money are just some of the consequences of public sector corruption. Bribes and backroom deals don’t just steal resources from the most vulnerable – they undermine justice and economic development, and destroy public trust in government and leaders.

Based on expert opinion from around the world, the Corruption Perceptions Index measures the perceived levels of public sector corruption worldwide, and it paints an alarming picture. Not one single country gets a perfect score and more than two-thirds score below 50, on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

Corruption is a problem for all countries. A poor score is likely a sign of widespread bribery, lack of punishment for corruption and public institutions that don’t respond to citizens’ needs. Countries at the top of the index also need to act. Leading financial centres in the EU and US need to join with fast-growing economies to stop the corrupt from getting away with it. The G20 needs to prove its global leadership role and prevent money laundering and stop secret companies from masking corruption.

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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 can, and often does, infringe on fundamental rights. For those surviving on less than US$2 a day, and for women who are the primary caretakers of children around the globe, corruption and bribery are particularly devastating. For them, the additional cost of bribery can mean tradeoffs are made between health and hunger, between school entrance fees and the shoes necessary to wear to school.

Not only do people pay the costs of corruption directly, but their quality of life is also affected by less visible forms of corruption. When powerful groups buy influence over government decisions or when public funds are diverted into the coffers of the political elite, ordinary people suffer.

When there is widespread belief that corruption prevails and the powerful in particular are able to get away with it, people lose faith in those entrusted with power. As the Global Corruption Barometer 2013 shows, corruption is seen to be running through the foundations of the democratic and legal process in many countries, affecting public trust in political parties, the judiciary and the police, among other key institutions.

Importantly, however, the people surveyed around the world as a part of the Global Corruption Barometer do not view themselves as powerless victims of corruption. They believe they can be part of the solution. In India, in 2011, millions of people marched to demand the establishment of an independent anticorruption commission; in Brazil, a citizen petition led to the passage of a law which bans corrupt politicians from running for office. Citizen action can lead to the exposure of corrupt acts, the sanctioning of corrupt officials and pressure upon reluctant governments to do more in the fight against corruption. The Global Corruption Barometer underscores the pressing desire of citizens to get involved in stopping corruption.

Efforts to stop corruption started in earnest in the early 1990s, at a time when corruption was a little-talkedabout secret. Twenty years later, the Global Corruption Barometer 2013 shows that people recognise all too well the extent of the problem and are ready to tackle this issue themselves.

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Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer (the Barometer) is the largest cross-country survey to collect the general public’s views on and experiences of corruption. In 2010 the Barometer interviewed more than 91,500 people in 86 countries, making it the most comprehensive edition since it was launched in 2003. The Barometer explores the general public’s views about corruption levels in their country and their government’s efforts to fight corruption. The 2010 Barometer also probes the frequency of bribery, reasons for paying a bribe in the past year, and attitudes towards reporting incidents of corruption.

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