Bangladesh ranks 12th most corrupt country in world

Bangladesh has ranked as 12th most corrupt country among 180 countries in the world, according to the 'Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2022'.

The CPI 2022 shows that Bangladesh's score dropped to 25, out of 100, while Pakistan's score to 27 from 28 and Afghanistan's score improved to 24 from 16 last year. There was no change in India's score as the country jointly scored 40 with Maldives, and Sri Lanka 36 and Nepal 34.

The CPI, which measures how corrupt a country's public sector is perceived to be by its experts and businesspeople, uses a scale of zero to 100 where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

According to the TI report, Bangladesh ranked 147th, scoring 25. Pakistan ranked 140th, scoring 27, Afganistan ranked 150th, scoring 24 and India ranked 85th, scoring 40.

Bangladesh is also the fourth-most corrupt among 31 Asia Pacific countries, according to the index.

TI, a Berlin-based graft watchdog, prepares the CPI report annually on 180 countries and territories around the world by their perceived levels of public sector corruption.

TIB Executive Director Iftekheruzzaman placed the Transparency International's (TI) CPI Index 2022 at a press conference held at the organisation's office at MIDAS Centre, Dhanmondi in Dhaka on Tuesday (January 31, 2023).

The 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) showed that most countries are failing to stop corruption.

Countries with strong institutions and well-functioning democracies often find themselves at the top of the Index. Denmark tops the ranking, with a score of 90. Finland and New Zealand follow closely with a score of 87. Norway (84), Singapore (83), Sweden (83), Switzerland (82), the Netherlands (80), Germany (79), Ireland (77) and Luxembourg (77) complete the top 10 this year.

On the flip side, countries experiencing conflict or where basic personal and political freedoms are highly restricted tend to earn the lowest marks. This year, Somalia (12), Syria (13), and South Sudan (13) are at the bottom of the index. Venezuela (14), Yemen (16), Libya (17), North Korea (17), Haiti (17), Equatorial Guinea (17) and Burundi (17) are also in the bottom 10.