Finland is again one of world's least corrupt nations

Transparency International report indicates little or no improvement in levels of corruption worldwide

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      According to the annual survey by the Berlin-based Transparency International, the three least corrupt countries on the planet are Finland, Iceland and New Zealand. At the other end of the scale are Haiti, Myanmar, Iraq, and Guinea, where corruption is apparently endemic among officials.
      The thrust of the 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index was that corruption and povery have a powerful linkage, and that much remains to be done in the fight against systemic corruption, despite one or two signs of improvement.
     
The top three countries scored 9.6 on a scale of ten, indicating that there was little or no perceived corruption present. Down at the bottom of the pile, Haiti scored just 1.8 on the same scale. According to the index, more than 100 of the 163 countries surveyed had serious corruption problems, while in half of them corruption runs rampant.
      Whilst most will look at placings on the league table and treat the CPI as an annual beauty or beast contest, it is perhaps more significant to measure whether corruption is moving forward worldwide, or whether legislation is helping to restrict the taking of kick-backs and the routine payment of officials to secure services.
      In Brazil, Cuba, Israel, Jordan, Laos, The Seychelles, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, and the United States, things worsened over the last 12 months.
      On the brighter side, countries such as Algeria, the Czech Republic, India, Japan, Latvia, Lebanon, Mauritius, Paraguay, Slovenia, Turkey, and Uruguay all took steps to tighten laws against corruption.
     
As in previous years, the countries of the Nordic region performed best among EU and Western European nations.
      This is not to say that Transparency International has nothing to complain about in this part of the world, however: scandals that have surfaced in recent years indicate that there are no completely corruption-free zones in the world.
      On the other hand, TI does note the positive impact that EU membership has had on the recent intake of primarily former Eastern European states. Only Poland has slipped down in the rankings, while Estonia, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic have all improved their status.
      Transparency International makes its classifications based on the input of business executives and local analysts. All those countries scoring lower than a five had serious perceived levels of corruption. A score below three indicates that corruption is pervasive.
      Finland also came out top of the TI listings in 2004 and was second with New Zealand (behind Iceland) in 2005. Most of the countries at the bottom of the pile are also familiar names from previous surveys.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Heroes to zeroes: Finland the eco-list darling joins the rank and vile
  Corruption low in Finland - rampant in many EU countries (21.10.2004)

Links:
  Corruption Perceptions Index 2005
  Corruption Perceptions Index 2006
  Transparency International (Wikipedia)

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