Transparency International released on 29 January the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for the year 20181. The index ranks 180 countries and territories around the world according to their perceived levels of public sector corruption.
The CPI is one of the most important sources used to assess corruption risks and risk mapping elaboration, in particular the one required by the "Sapin 2" law.
This year, Transparency International highlights the link between corruption and the weakness of democratic institutions or even the existence of armed conflicts. The overall results show little improvement compared to last year, with a global average of only 43 out of 100, and more than two thirds of countries have a score below 50.
The main upward trends were registered for Czech Republic, France, Italy and Cyprus, with an improvement of 2 points each compared to last year. Moreover, countries such as Estonia, Senegal, Guyana and Côte d'Ivoire are among the 20 countries that have shown a significant improvement over the past seven years.
The main downward trends were registered for the United States and Brazil, which recorded their steepest decline in latest years, dropping by 4 and 2 points respectively. Likewise, Hungary, Turkey, Malta, Chile and Australia have also decreased their scores in comparison to previous years.
These developments are likely to influence the level of corruption risk for companies operating in these countries.
Western Europe remains the highest rated region, with an average of 66 points. On the other hand, Sub-Saharan Africa remains at the bottom of the ranking with 32 points.
Footnotes
1 https://www.transparency.org/news/pressrelease/corruption_perceptions_index_2018
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