Denmark tops public sector corruption assessment in CPI 2025

Denmark tops public sector corruption assessment in CPI 2025

Denmark has once again emerged as the least corrupt country in the world in the recently released Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2025. This index assesses 182 countries and territories based on the level of perceived corruption in the public sector.

What is the Corruption Perceptions Index

The Corruption Perceptions Index is released annually by Transparency International. This index:

¨     Is based on the perceptions of experts and the business community

¨     Measures bribery, abuse of power, and administrative transparency in the public sector

¨     Gives countries a score from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating less corruption.

Main Point

¨     The Corruption Perception Index 2025 released by Transparency International shows a worrying picture. The global average score has declined, and now fewer countries fall into the “very clean” category.

¨     Scores range from 0 (very highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). This year’s results show that the global average score is 42, which is the lowest in more than a decade. In particular, 122 countries scored below 50, indicating that corruption concerns are still widespread.

¨     Transparency International has also observed that in the past few years the number of countries scoring above 80 has declined sharply. This indicates governance challenges even in traditionally strong democracies.

India’s rank in Global Corruption Perception Index 2025

¨     In Corruption Perception Index 2025, India ranked 91st worldwide, receiving a CPI score of 39 out of 100. Compared to last year, India’s score has increased by one point, while its rank has improved from 96th position.

¨     While US is at 29th position, UK is at 20th position.

Least corrupt country in Corruption Perception Index 2025

Most Corrupt Countries in Corruption Perception Index 2025

Other findings related to Global Corruption Perception Index 2025

¨     Since the year 2012, in non-conflict zones around the world, 829 journalists have been killed.

¨     It stated, "More than 90 percent of these killings occurred in countries whose CPI score was below 50, including Brazil (35), India (39), Mexico (27), Pakistan (28) and Iraq (28), which are particularly dangerous for journalists reporting on corruption."