"One of the most comprehensive and trusted measures of corruption around the world is the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), which is published annually by Transparency International.

The 2024 CPI gave 180 countries a score of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean) based upon their perceived levels of public sector corruption.

As in previous years, more than two-thirds of the world's countries scored below 50 in the 2024 rankings, resulting in an average score of 43 for the twelfth year in a row, while 148 countries have stayed stagnant or gotten worse since 2012.

The top ten least corrupt appear below, followed by the full list further down the page."

;;

Really fun and telling Map at the link to run your cursor over.

China at 43?

"China is widely considered corrupt due to a combination of centralized, one-party political rule, opaque state institutions, and rapid, state-directed economic growth.

Without a free press or independent judiciary to enforce accountability, vast power is concentrated in the hands of officials who can manipulate resources, land allocations, and lucrative contracts."

#2

This is one of many of what are known as, perception and performance indices, as they track both.

"The most corrupt countries are determined primarily by perception rankings, as perfectly objective metrics for clandestine crimes like bribery and embezzlement do not exist.

To measure this, institutions evaluate data by aggregating surveys, expert assessments, and objective governance datasets."