EU-25 among least corrupt in global index

Corruption is rampant in sixty countries of the
world and the public sector continues to be plagued by bribery,
says a report by a respected global corruption
watchdog.

While corruption continues to cripple the global
battle against poverty, the EU-25 countries all score
fairly high in Transparency International’s
Corruption Perceptions Index 2004.

In the 2004 index, which was released on 20
October, sixty countries score below three out of
ten. TI identifies three points as the benchmark for
“rampant corruption”. A further 106 countries
of the 146 evaluated score less than five.

The countries with the cleanest slate were found to be
Finland, New Zealand, Denmark, Iceland and
Singapore. At the bottom end of the ladder were
Nigeria, Bangladesh and Haiti.

“Corruption in large-scale public projects is a
daunting obstacle to sustainable development and results
in a major loss of public funds needed for education,
healthcare and poverty alleviation, both in developed and
developing countries,” said TI Chairman Peter
Eigen.

The CPI is a composite index that reflects the
perceptions of business people and country analysts of
the degree to which corruption exists among politicians
and public officials. The Berlin-based TI defines
corruption as the “abuse of public office for
private gain”. 

The table below shows the ranking and scores of the
EU-25 countries plus those of candidates Turkey,
Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia.

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