According to the Corruption Perception Index 2021, compiled by Transparency International, Estonia is one of the least corrupt countries in the world – the country is ranked 13th in the index.
The Corruption Perception Index 2021 measures the perceived levels of public sector corruption in 180 countries and territories around the world.
Estonia shares its 13th spot with Austria, Canada, Ireland and Iceland.
Transparency International doesn’t comment Estonia’s rather good standing, but it assigns a score to every country, with 100 being “very clean” and 0 being “highly corrupt”. Estonia’s score in the 2021 index is 74.
In the 2020 index, Estonia’s score was 75 – meaning it dropped one point; the country’s ranking in 2020 was 17.
Scandinavian countries are the world leaders
“Each country’s score is a combination of at least [three] data sources drawn from 13 different corruption surveys and assessments. These data sources are collected by a variety of reputable institutions, including the World Bank and the World Economic Forum,” Transparency says.
“A country’s score is the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0-100, where 0 means highly corrupt and 100 means very clean. A country’s rank is its position relative to the other countries in the index. Ranks can change merely if the number of countries included in the index changes.”
“The rank is therefore not as important as the score in terms of indicating the level of corruption in that country,” the organisation points out.
The leaders in the 2021 index are Denmark, Finland and New Zealand (score 88, rank 1), followed by Norway, Singapore and Sweden (score 85, rank 4). Lithuania is ranked 34th with the score of 61; Latvia is ranked 36th with the score of 59.
Russia is ranked 136th with the score of 29.
No significant progress against corruption
In the bottom of the 2021 index, one can find South Sudan (score 11, rank 180), followed by Syria and Somalia (both scored 13, ranked 178th), and Venezuela (score 14, rank 177).
“This year, the global average remains unchanged for the tenth year in a row, at just 43 out of a possible 100 points. Despite multiple commitments, 131 countries have made no significant progress against corruption in the last decade,” Transparency points out.
“Two-thirds of countries score below 50, indicating that they have serious corruption problems, while 27 countries are at their lowest score ever.”
Transparency International is a German non-governmental organisation founded in 1993. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil societal anti-corruption measures and to prevent criminal activities arising from corruption.
Cover: The Corruption Perception Index 2021 map. Images by Transparency International.
For us in Belarus it is MOST IMPORTANT to understand what is the major FACTOR, that put Estonia into this position, what are other factors that also play their role?