Corruption is worsening around the world, and even affects consolidated democracies in Europe and North America, which are worsening in a context of weakening leadership, according to the report published this Tuesday.
This year, the global CPI average has fallen for the first time in more than a decade to just 42 points out of 100, with zero being the worst score (highly corrupt) and one hundred the best.
- For the eighth year in a row, Denmark has the highest score (89), closely followed by Finland (88) and Singapore (84).
- On the positive side, it stands out that, since 2012, a total of 31 countries have significantly improved their score, including Estonia (76), South Korea (63) and Seychelles (68).
- But the vast majority of countries fail to keep corruption under control, according to the NGO, with 122 of the 182 nations and territories included in the CPI scoring below 50.
- At the same time, the number of countries with scores above 80 has fallen from 12 a decade ago to just five this year.
“The absence of strong leadership in the global fight against corruption weakens international action on anti-corruption and threatens to reduce pressure to promote reforms in countries around the world,” the NGO maintains.
Concern about evolution in democracies
According to Transparency International, there is however a “worrying trend” of democracies recording worsening perceptions of corruption, from the US (64), which has achieved the lowest score to date, Canada (75) and New Zealand (81), to various parts of Europe, such as the United Kingdom (70), France (66) and Sweden (80).
Spain, for its part, obtained 55 points in the 2025 CPI compared to 56 in 2024.
According to the NGO, in many European countries, anti-corruption efforts have largely stagnated over the last decade, as since 2012, 13 countries have “gotten significantly worse,” and only seven have improved significantly.
Since that year, 50 countries have had a significant decline in their index score. Among those that have fallen the most are Türkiye (31), Hungary (40) and Nicaragua (14).
The countries with the lowest scores overwhelmingly have “severely repressed” civil societies and high levels of instability such as South Sudan (9), Somalia (9) and Venezuela (10).
Youth protests and reduction of civic space
Last year was marked by a surge in protests led by the , as young people from countries with low CPI scores – such as Serbia (33) and Peru (30) – took to the streets to demand action and accountability from their governments.
In Nepal (34) and Madagascar (25), these popular protest movements caused the fall of the governments in power.
“What united these diverse groups of protesters,” the report highlights, “was the perception that those in power were abusing their authority for their own benefit, while failing to offer adequate public services, a stable economy and opportunities for the rest of the population,” the NGO notes.
Another worrying pattern in the opinion of the NGO is “the increase in restrictions imposed by many States on freedoms of expression, association and assembly.”
Since 2012, 36 of the 50 countries with significant declines in CPI scores have also experienced a shrinking of civic space, making it more difficult for independent journalists, civil society organizations and whistleblowers to speak out freely against corruption and also more likely for corrupt officials to continue abusing their power, it says.
Since that year, 150 journalists covering corruption cases in areas not affected by conflict have been murdered, almost all of them in countries with high levels of corruption, the NGO added.
“There is a clear roadmap to hold power accountable for the common good, from democratic processes and independent oversight mechanisms to a free and open civil society”
François Valérian, president of Transparency International, noted that “there is a clear roadmap to hold power accountable for the common good, from democratic processes and independent oversight mechanisms to a free and open civil society.”
“At a time when we see a dangerous disregard for international norms by some States, we call on governments and their leaders to act with integrity and live up to their responsibilities to deliver a better future for people around the world,” he added.
