According to the Corruption Perception Index 2020, compiled by Transparency International, Estonia is the 17th least corrupt country.
In the Corruption Perception Index 2020 – that measures the perceived levels of public sector corruption in 180 countries and territories around the world – Transparency ranks Estonia as the 17th least corrupt country.
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 2020 index is 75.
Even in terms of geography, Estonia is scoring very well in the Western Europe and the European Union region – the region’s average score is only 66. However, even with that score, Western Europe and the European Union is the highest-scoring region in the world.
The leaders of the 2020 index are Denmark and New Zealand (scored 88), followed by Finland, Singapore and Switzerland (85), Norway (84), the Netherlands (82), Germany and Luxembourg (80).
In the 2020 index, Estonia scored higher than, for example, Japan (ranked 19th, scored 74), France (23rd, 69), the United States (25th, 67), Lithuania (35th, 60) and Latvia (42nd, 57).
Most countries have made little progress
The most corrupt countries in the world, according to the index, are South Sudan, Somalia (179th, 12), Syria (178th, 14), Yemen and Venezuela (176th, 15).
The Corruption Perceptions Index 2020 “paints a grim picture of the state of corruption worldwide. While most countries have made little to no progress in tackling corruption in nearly a decade, more than two-thirds of countries score below 50,” Transparency says in the report.
“Our analysis shows corruption not only undermines the global health response to COVID-19, but contributes to a continuing crisis of democracy.”
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 2020 map. Images by Transparency International.
