In most countries in the world, corruption in the public sector is not being reduced. This is what a report published today by the NGO Transparency International reveals. This German organization carries out a Corruption Perception Index (CPI) every year in 180 countries and territories around the globe, where the most corrupt countries obtain a lower score.
According to its research, the global average of corruption has stagnated at 43 points out of 100 for twelve years. One of the main causes that the organization points out is the weakness of justice systems when it comes to punishing corruption and controlling the actions of governments. Where justice is more fragile, corruption tends to increase.
Latin America is one of the places in the world where the connection between the decline of judicial systems and the advance of corruption is most visible. Venezuela stands out, the second most corrupt country in the world according to the CPI ranking. With a score of 13 out of 100, the Caribbean country is only behind Somalia and shares second place with South Sudan. Along with Venezuela, Transparency International points to El Salvador, Honduras or Nicaragua as some of the countries where corruption has increased the most since 2018.
“The Judiciary in the Americas is not fulfilling its crucial role as a counterweight to other powers of the State,” states the 2023 report from Transparency International. The organization warns about a general deterioration in confidence in the Judiciary that discourages complaints and ends up leading to greater impunity.
Guatemala is one of the most prominent examples of the endemic corruption that Central America suffers. There the corruption index has decreased 10 points since 2012, currently standing at 23. “It is the result of three consecutive governments involved in corrupt practices,” indicates the Transparency International report.
The new president of Guatemala Bernardo Arévalo, in office since January 15, has made the fight against corruption his number one commitment. However, dismantling the deep networks of corruption that have permeated the Guatemalan State, and that tried to prevent its takeover, will be a challenge.
Europe is the region of the world with the best results in the CPI, but for the first time in a decade there has been a worsening. The continent's average corruption index has gone from 66 to 65. Transparency International attributes this deterioration to the “weakening of democratic counterweights that would be undermining anti-corruption measures.”
While Denmark leads the global ranking with 90 points and Finland follows closely with 87, some democracies at the top of the ranking such as Sweden, the Netherlands, Iceland and the United Kingdom have recorded their worst historical results in the CPI. At the bottom of Europe we find Hungary with 42 points.
Ukraine, with a score of 36 out of 100, has high levels of corruption that echo the revelation this Sunday of the diversion of nearly 40 million euros in purchases of weapons destined for the war against Russia. Ukraine has been improving its CPI for 11 consecutive years thanks to reforms in the judicial system, but it is "worrying that there continues to be a considerable number of corruption cases," says the Transparency International report.
Following the Russian invasion in February 2022, Ukraine applied for membership in the European Union. When in December 2023, the EU agreed to start negotiations for its entry into the group of 27, the progress in the rule of law in Ukraine was recognized, with special mention being made of the reform of the judicial system. However, like Transparency International, the EU insists that Ukraine still has much to improve in its anti-corruption fight.
