Corruption Perception Index: Denmark was declared the least corrupt country in the world, followed closely by Finland, Singapore, and New Zealand, as per the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2024, regarded worldwide as a barometer for public sector misconduct. On the other hand, Transparency International’s report ranks India in 96th position, having dropped three positions from its ranking last year.
The index ranks 180 countries and territories in terms of public sector corruption, as perceived by experts and business people, on a scale from 0 to 100, where ‘0’ is highly corrupt and ‘100’ is very clean. The 2024 report states that corruption is a major problem throughout the world but is witnessing some improvement in different countries.
From the list, in 2024, India’s overall score was 38 while it was 39 in 2023 and 40 in 2022. India’s rank in the year 2023 was 93.
Among India’s neighbours, Pakistan arrested at 135th position, while Sri Lanka at 121st position also grappled with their low ranking. Bangladesh lay down the ranking list at 149, while China at 76.
Many countries recorded their lowest score in more than a decade, including superpowers like the United States and France, down to authoritarian states like Russia and Venezuela.
The US went down from 69 points to 65 and dropped into 28th place from 24th earlier. Other Western countries on the way down include France, which slipped down four points to 67, and five places to 25th; and Germany, which went down three points to 75 and six places to 15th. It tied Canada, down one point and three places.
Transparency International stated that Mexico also dropped five points to 26 because the judiciary failed to act in major corruption cases.
Russia underwent another drop by four points to reach 22 last year, itself having plummeted in the past decade. The Transparency International report says the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has “further entrenched authoritarianism.” It also said Ukraine, while its score dipped one point to 35, “is making strides in judicial independence and high-level corruption prosecutions.”
South Sudan has rated as the most corrupt nation, attaining only 8 points. It superseded Somalia, even though the score of the latter was equally poor at 9 points. The two were preceded by Venezuela and Syria with their scores being 10 and 12 points respectively.
Transparency International indicated, in the year 2024, that “levels of corruption in the world remain alarmingly high, efforts at reducing them falter”. From 2012, however, 32 countries have shown dramatic success in reducing their levels of corruption. However, there are 148 countries that have either stagnated or worsened during the same period making the work ahead a lot.
Corruption Effects on Climate
The group also pointed at corruption risk on the international scene for efforts to handle climate change. They said with regards to a lack of transparency and accountability mechanisms, the probability of diversion or misuse of climate funds is high, while “undue influence,” primarily from the private sector, hampers the passage of ambitious policies bringing progress in reducing emissions and adapting to the inevitable impacts of global heating.
“All over the world, huge numbers of people suffer dire consequences from global heating because the funds supposedly meant to help countries to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and protect vulnerable populations are stolen or misused. At the same time, corruption in the form of undue influence undermines policies meant to address the climate crisis and causes environmental damage,” such the report reads.
It will make these life-saving activities much more effective and thus benefiting more the people in need to protect these from corruption those would be misappropriated for mitigation and adaptation purposes.
There are many self-sufficient, rich countries with high CPI scores that thus have the ability to resist corruption-dependent climate actions through their interests all over the world. The report indicated:
“Some of these countries are also home to financial hubs that attract illicit funds stemming from corruption, environmental destruction and other criminal activities. While the CPI does not measure this, dirty money poses a major corruption problem with harmful effects that reach far beyond these countries’ borders.”
Corruption is an evolving global threat which does far more than undermine development; it is a key cause of declining democracy, instability, and human rights violations. Corruption must be made a top priority and a long-term issue by international communities and each country, said the report.
“This is a cry for action against authoritarianism for a peaceful free and sustainable world. Dangerous developments behind this year’s Corruption Perceptions Index underline the urgent need for us to move from talk to action on ending global corruption,” it said.
Global Corruption Threat
At the very bottom of the index are South Sudan and Somalia with scores of as low as8 and 9 respectively. The two corrupt countries next on the line are Venezuela and Syria with scores of 10 and 12 respectively.
Corruption is not only a barrier to economic development, but it is also a real threat to democracy, stability, and human rights, according to Transparency International. Global levels of corruption remain appallingly high, and attempts to fight back against the trend have stuttered,” claims the report. Urgent action needs to be taken against corruption, especially in preventing the corruption from contaminating climate change mitigation efforts by the private sector interests and financial hubs attractive to illicit funds.
The 2024 CPI reported that: “Corruption has a very negative effect on climate change mitigation efforts.” Misuse of climate funds and undue private sector influence may hinder policies that reduce emissions and adapt to climate change effects.
“Corruption in climate action leads to environmental damages because money meant for important mitigation and adaptation efforts is stolen or otherwise misused,” the report says. It thus becomes very critical to safeguard these efforts against corruption to seal the effectiveness of these actions as well as garner vital support for the burgeoning populations most vulnerable to negative changes in climate across the globe.
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