A survey released by Transparency International on Tuesday says Denmark and New Zealand are coming tops for cleanliness on corruption index.

The report says the best bets are Denmark and New Zealand, which took the top two places in the survey, with scores of 88 and 87 respectively.

Scoring 100 will mean a country ranked “very clean’’ on the group’s Corruption Perceptions Index.

Other top scorers include Finland, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland, in a four-way tie for third place with 85 points.

Norway, the Netherlands, Canada, Luxembourg score 84, 82, 81 and 81 points respectively similarly these countries round out the top 10, according to the report.

The Berlin-based group noted that two-thirds of the 180 countries listed scored below 50, while the average score was 43.

It said only 20 countries had significantly improved their scores since 2012.

It listed Estonia and Ivory Coast as significantly improved, but noted that Australia, Chile and Malta had all slid down the table.

South Sudan Syria and Somalia score 13, 13 and 10 points respectively similarly they are the bottom three countries.

“Corruption is much more likely to flourish where democratic foundations are weak and as we have seen in many countries, where undemocratic and populist politicians can use it to their advantage,’’ said Delia Ferreira Rubio, the group’s chair.

The group noted that Hungary had slid eight points during the last five years, while Turkey slid by nine.

During this period, Freedom House changed Turkey’s rating from ‘partly free’ to ‘not free’ while Hungary’s government has pursued a course of “illiberal democracy’’.

The U. S. also fell by four points to 71, knocking it out of the top 20 for the first time since 2011. (Dpa/NAN)

– Jan. 29, 2019 @ 11:55 GMT |