These are the world's most corrupt

countries
Aza Wee Sile | @Aza_Wee
Published 11:07 PM ET Tue, 24 Jan 2017 Updated 12:54 PM ET Wed, 25 Jan 2017

Here are the world's most corrupt countries 7:21 AM ET Fri, 27

Jan 2017 | 00:35

Somalia, South Sudan, North Korea and Syria are perceived to be the most corrupt countries in
the world, according to Transparency International's latest annual review that draws on a mix of
business and government sources for its rankings.

Somalia has held the undesirable title as the world's most corrupt country for the past ten years,
with a score of 10 on the Corruption Perceptions Index 2016, which ranks countries' public
sector from zero to 100.

Countries with a lower score are deemed to be more corrupt, and are generally characterized by
impunity for corruption, poor governance and weak institutions, the report said.
Second from the bottom is South Sudan, a relatively new country which only gained its
independence from Sudan six years ago, with a score of 11. The third most corrupt country is
North Korea, followed by Syria, a war-torn country which is presently seeing a massive outflow
of refugees.

Countries in the Middle East suffered the worst declines on the corruption index, led by Qatar
which fell 10 scores from the previous year due to scandals such as FIFA's decision to host the
World Cup 2022 in Qatar amid reports of migrant workers abuse, Transparency International
said.

CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS
INDEX 2016
 The German lobbying group warned that more countries' scores fell instead of improving from
the previous year, creating a "vicious circle between corruption, unequal distribution of power in
society and unequal distribution of wealth," the report said.

The continuous cycle of corruption fueling social inequality has led to disenchanted citizens
across the globe, who then turn to populist politicians, Transparency International said.

But, populist leaders are likely to worsen the issue of corruption.

"In countries with populist or autocratic leaders, we often see democracies in decline and a
disturbing pattern of attempts to crack down on civil society, limit press freedom, and weaken
the independence of the judiciary," Jos Ugaz, Chair of Transparency International, said in a
media statement.

"Instead of tackling crony capitalism, those leaders usually install even worse forms of corrupt
systems," Ugaz added.

Hungary and Turkey, which are experiencing the rise of autocratic leaders, have seen their
corruption scores fall, while Argentina having ousted a populist government late in 2015 is
showing signs of improvement, Transparency International said.

The Berlin-based non-governmental organization called for governments to step up on "deep-

rooted systemic reforms" that target corruption.

Such reforms need to include the disclosure through public registries of those who own
companies and sanctions on those who aid in the movement of corrupt money flows across
borders, the organization said, pointing to the Panama Papers, which was 11.5 million leaked
documents that revealed how businesses, wealthy individuals and even politicians exploit
offshore tax regimes.

European nations were among the highest ranked on the Corruption Perceptions Index,
occupying four out of the top five slots.

Denmark and New Zealand were tied in first place as the world's cleanest countries, followed by
Finland, Sweden and Switzerland.

The island city-state of Singapore was the only Asian state to make the top ten of least corrupt
countries.

The top 10 ranked nations perceived to be the least corrupt are:

Denmark
New Zealand
Finland
Sweden
 Switzerland
Norway
Singapore
Netherlands
Canada
Germany
And the most corrupt countries as ranked on the Corruption Perceptions Index 2016 are:

Somalia
South Sudan
North Korea
Syria
Yemen
Sudan
Libya
Afghanistan
Guinea-Bissau
Venezuela
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