Pakistan’s ranking on corruption perception index slides 2 spots: Transparency International

Pakistan’s ranking on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2024 has dropped by 2 spots from 133 in 2023 to 135 in 2024 out of 180 countries, according to a report released by Transparency International on Tuesday.

The CPI ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption on a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

The CPI report is released annually by Transparency International Berlin. Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) has no role either in the collection of data or the calculation of the country’s score, TIP explains.

The score for Pakistan also reduced by two points from 29 in CPI 2023 to 27 in CPI 2024.

According to a Transparency International document listing Pakistan’s CPI ranking and scores from 1996 to 2024, which was seen by Dawn.com, the country’s score in the past 10 years has ranged between 27 and 33 points (a higher score indicating less corruption).

Since 2012, when the index changed to a scoring scale of 100 from 10, Pakistan’s score rose from 27 to 33 in 2018 but declined consecutively back to 27 last year.

Statistics from the past show that in 1996, Pakistan ranked only second-last out of 54 countries part of the index back then, with a score of 1/10.

From 1997 to 2011, the country’s score went back and forth, reaching as high as 2.7 in 1998 and dropping as low as 2.1 in 2004 and 2005.

According to TIP chair retired Justice Zia Perwez, the score of all countries in the region except Oman, China, Turkiye and Mongolia declined. The downslide for the region showed that Pakistan was one of the countries holding up against the overall trend in the region.

Global corruption levels remained alarmingly high, with efforts to reduce them faltering, according to the CPI report, which exposed serious corruption levels across the globe, with more than two-thirds of countries scoring below 50 out of 100.

Countries with improvement, decline

Almost 6.8 billion people live in countries with CPI scores under 50 — equivalent to 85 per cent of the world population of 8bn.

For the seventh year in a row, Denmark obtained the highest score on the index (90) and was closely followed by Finland (88) and Singapore (84).

Countries with the lowest scores were mostly fragile and conflict-affected ones like South Sudan (8), Somalia (9), Venezuela (10), Syria (12), Libya (13), Eritrea (13), Yemen (13) and Equatorial Guinea (13).

While the CPI noted that the Middle East and North Africa’s rising average score was a “reason for optimism”, it pointed out that it was the first increase in over a decade and only by one point — to 39 out of 100.

According to Transparency International, the top-scoring region was Western Europe and the European Union but its score “decreased overall for the second year in a row – many leaders are serving business interests rather than the common good and laws are often poorly enforced”.

“While Asia Pacific does have a range of improving countries, its average score is decreasing, as vicious cycles of corruption and climate change impacts take their toll,” it added.

Over a quarter of the countries in the sample (47) got their lowest score yet on the index, including Austria (67), Bangladesh (23), Brazil (34), Cuba (41), France (67), Germany (75), Haiti (16), Hungary (41), Iran (23), Mexico (26), Russia (22), South Sudan (8), Switzerland (81), the United States (65) and Venezuela (10).

Over the past five years, seven countries have significantly improved their scores in the index: These include Côte d’Ivoire (45), the Dominican Republic (36), Kosovo (44), Kuwait (46), the Maldives (38), Moldova (43) and Zambia (39).

At the same time, 13 countries saw their scores significantly decline in the index over the past five years.

The significant decliners were Austria (67), Belarus (33), Belgium (69), El Salvador (30), France (67), Kyrgyzstan (25), Lebanon (22), Myanmar (16), Nicaragua (14), Russia (22), Sri Lanka (32), the United Kingdom (71), and Venezuela (10).

Corruption making fight against climate change harder

The global average on the index remained unchanged at 43, highlighting the need for urgent action against corruption and warning of a critical global obstacle to implementing successful climate action.

Against a backdrop of record-breaking global warming and extreme weather events, erosion of democracy and a decline in global climate leadership, the world has its back against the ropes in its fight against the climate crisis. Corruption was making that fight much harder, and the international community must address the link between corruption and the climate crisis.

Francois Valerian, chair of Transparency International, said: “Corruption is an evolving global threat that does far more than undermine development — it is a key cause of declining democracy, instability and human rights violations.

“The international community and every nation must make tackling corruption a top and long-term priority. This is crucial to pushing back against authoritarianism and securing a peaceful, free and sustainable world. The dangerous trends revealed in this year’s Corruption Perception Index highlight the need to follow through with concrete action now to address global corruption,” the report quoted Valerian as saying.

“Corruption weakens governance structures, undermines law enforcement and diverts critical climate finance intended to reduce emissions and build resilience,” the report noted.

“Without robust national anti-corruption measures, the effectiveness of global climate agreements such as the Paris Agreement remains at risk,” it warned.

Transparency International Chief Executive Officer Maíra Martini stated: “Today, corrupt forces not only shape but often dictate policies and dismantle checks and balances — silencing journalists, activists, and anyone fighting for equality and sustainability.”

The CPI highlights the billions of dollars of climate funds that are at risk of being stolen or misused. Most countries that are highly vulnerable to climate change score below 50 on the CPI.

Huge numbers of people are at needless risk because corruption is impairing climate projects meant to protect them. This highlights the critical need for robust transparency and accountability measures to ensure the effective use of these funds.