Corruption globally is worsening, even in advanced democracies, as the number of countries scoring above 80 has decreased from 12 a decade ago to just five this year, according to Transparency International’s 2025 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) published on Tuesday.

The index evaluated 182 countries based on perceived public sector corruption, using a scale from zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

It revealed a troubling downward trend, with the global average score falling to 42 out of 100—the lowest in over ten years.

Additionally, it further pointed out that 122 countries, which are more than two-thirds of the total, scored under 50 in the 2025 CPI.

Denmark, maintaining its eight-year streak, tops the CPI 2025 with the highest score of 89, followed closely by Finland (88) and Singapore (84).

In contrast, the countries with the lowest scores suffer from severely repressed civil societies and high levels of instability.

South Sudan and Somalia, both scoring 9, tied at rank 181. Venezuela ranks slightly higher at 180 with a score of 10, placing these three nations at the bottom of the index.

However, high CPI scores don’t necessarily translate to corruption-free status, with the report noting that the world’s best democracies, like New Zealand (rank: 4, score: 81), Sweden (rank: 6, score: 80), Canada (rank: 16, score: 75), the UK (rank: 20, score: 70), France (rank: 27, score: 66), the US (rank: 29, score: 64), and more, have seen worrying declines as compared to autocracies or flawed democracies.

However, there are some signs of progress, with the report indicating that around 31 countries have substantially lowered their levels of corruption since 2012.

Estonia (rank: 12, score: 76), Bhutan (rank: 18, score: 71), South Korea (rank: 31, score: 63), and more have shown the long-term gains of sustained anti-corruption measures.

In 2025, India ranked 91st globally on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), scoring 39 out of 100, which is a slight improvement from the previous year