Brazil improves its position in corruption ranking

Brazil was ranked 69th among 175 countries listed by the Corruption Perceptions Index released Wednesday (Dec. 3) by Transparency International, a global antigraft watchdog.

The report has been published annually since 1995, based on perceptions and polls on corruption provided by a number of organizations. Countries are scored based on a 100-0 scale – where 100 means corruption-free, and zero means very corrupt – and then ranked from the least to the most corrupt.

Last year, Brazil had ranked 72 among 177 countries, with a score of 42. This year, it scored 43 and tied in 69th place with six other countries – Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania, Senegal, and Swaziland. In the Americas, Brazil ranked 12th, worse than such countries as Chile and Uruguay, but better than Argentina and Venezuela.

None of the 175 countries scored 100, and over two thirds of them had scores below 50. Again, Denmark led the ranking as the country with the lowest level of public sector corruption, scoring 92. The second country perceived as the least corrupt was New Zealand, scoring 91. Rounding out the top five are Finland in third, Sweden in fourth, and Norway and Switzerland in fifth place.

Last in the ranking, in the 174th position, are North Korea and Somalia, with eight points each. China (36 points), Turkey (45 points) and Angola (19 points) are mentioned as the countries that had the worst performance in 2014 compared to 2013. China and Angola lost four points, while Turkey lost five.

Talking about Latin America, a regional analysis by Alejandro Salas, Transparency International Regional Director for the Americas, mentioned kickback schemes at Petrobras, Brazil, and the killing of students in Mexico as evidence that the countries are failing to make progress in fighting corruption. “These two countries – instead of making positive use of their influence as geopolitical leaders – show signs of stagnation and even backwardness by allowing for the abuse of power and looting of the countries’ resources for the benefit of the few,” Salas pointed out.

Translated by Mayra Borges

This story was updated at 11:40 am to include or extend the last three paragraphs with further details on the Corruption Perceptions Index.