Israel improves slightly in corruption survey as many nations get worst scores in years
Transparency International finds ‘global corruption levels remain alarmingly high, with efforts to reduce them faltering’
Israel improved slightly in an index released this week that serves as a barometer of public sector corruption worldwide, while leading powers such as the United States and France and authoritarian nations such as Russia and Venezuela had their worst showings in over a decade.
Transparency International, which compiles the annual Corruption Perceptions Index, said 47 countries out of the 180 it surveyed had their lowest score last year since it started using its current methodology for its global ranking in 2012. It said of its 2024 survey that “global corruption levels remain alarmingly high, with efforts to reduce them faltering.”
In contrast, Israel’s score rose two points since the 2023 survey, from 63 to 65 out of 100, placing it 30th out of 180 countries surveyed. Israel’s score on the survey has generally been rising for the past few years, and is up from 59 in 2021.
The organization measures the perception of public sector corruption according to 13 data sources, including the World Bank, the World Economic Forum and private risk and consulting companies. It ranks 180 countries and territories on a scale from a “highly corrupt” 0 to a “very clean” 100.
The global average remained unchanged from 2023 at 43, with more than two-thirds of countries scoring under 50, Transparency International said.
Denmark held on to first place with an unchanged 90 points, followed by Finland with 88 and Singapore with 84. New Zealand dropped from third to fourth, shedding two points to 83.
South Sudan slid to the bottom of the index with just 8 points, displacing Somalia at 9.
They were followed by Venezuela with 10 and Syria with 12. Also sitting in the bottom half of the index in the Middle East and North Africa region were Yemen with 13, Lebanon with 22, Iran with 23, Egypt with 30, and Jordan with 49.
The US slid from 69 points to 65, and from 24th place to 28th. Transparency International pointed to criticism of its judicial branch. It noted that the US Supreme Court adopted its first code of ethics in 2023, “but serious questions remain about the lack of meaningful, objective enforcement mechanisms and the strength of the new rules themselves.”
Other Western nations on the decline included France, which dropped four points to 67 and five places to 25th, and Germany, which was down three points to 75 and six places to 15th, where it tied with Canada, which was down one point and three places.
Transparency International said Mexico dropped five points to 26 because the judiciary failed to act in major corruption cases.
“Despite former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s promises to tackle corruption and return stolen assets to the people, his six-year term ended without any convictions or recovered assets,” it added.
In Europe, Slovakia dropped five points to 49 in the first full year of Prime Minister Robert Fico’s government, “as numerous reforms erode anti-corruption checks and bypass public consultation.”
Russia, which already declined significantly in recent years, shed another four points to 22 last year. Transparency International noted that Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has “further entrenched authoritarianism.” It said that Ukraine, while its score dipped one point to 35, “is making strides in judicial independence and high-level corruption prosecutions.”
In the Middle East and North Africa, the situation of anti-corruption efforts “remains bleak” as political leaders exert near-absolute control while benefiting from wealth and clamping down on dissent, the group said. But it said that “unforeseen opportunities are also emerging,” for example, in the wake of the fall of president Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria. Sub-Saharan Africa had the lowest average score of any region, at 33.
In Asia and the Pacific, governments “are still failing to deliver on anti-corruption pledges,” Transparency International said.
The group also pointed to worldwide risks that corruption poses to efforts to combat climate change. It said that a lack of transparency and accountability mechanisms increases the risk of climate funds being embezzled or misused, while “undue influence,” often from the private sector, obstructs the approval of ambitious policies.
