South Africa’s score in Transparency International’s (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) has remained unchanged while its rating has improved by 6 points from 67th to 61st out of a total of 168 countries included in the index.
According to TI, this indicates that perceptions around the extent of corruption in South Africa are stabilising somewhat.
A country’s score refers to the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0-100, where 0 means that a country is perceived as highly corrupt and 100 that a country is perceived as very clean. A country’s rank indicates its position relative to the other countries included in the index, which numbered 168 in 2015.
The CPI is compiled from a composite of surveys conducted during the year by organisations such as the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The individuals surveyed are largely public and private sector leaders and academics.
Europe dominated the top rankings, with 7 of the top 10 countries located on the continent. Denmark took the top spot, followed by Finland and Sweden respectively. Somalia ranked last on the CPI while Botswana was the top African country, ranked 28th.
