Corruption watchdog sees ‘worrying’ decline in democracies; Israel slips to 35th place in ranking

Anti-graft watchdog Transparency International (TI) warns of worsening corruption in democracies worldwide and says the United States has slid to its lowest-ever score on its 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index.

Berlin-based TI also says the average global score had hit its worst level in more than a decade.

The organization measures experts’ perception of public-sector corruption around the world according to 13 data sources, including the World Bank, the World Economic Forum and private risk and consulting companies.

Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2025 gave top place to Denmark, with 89 points out of 100, followed by Finland and Singapore.

Israel slips to 35th position with a score of 62. Last year it was ranked 30th with a score of 60.

At the bottom were South Sudan and Somalia with nine points apiece, followed by Venezuela.

The report laments that “too often, we are seeing a failure of good governance and accountable leadership.”

It also points to “a worrying trend of democracies seeing worsening perceived corruption.”

Among those, it points even to high-scoring New Zealand, down two points at 81, and Sweden, unchanged at 80; as well as Canada, the United Kingdom, France and the United States, which scored 75, 70, 66 and 64 points respectively.