According to a report released by Transparency International on Tuesday, Pakistan has seen a notable improvement in its ranking on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).
The country’s position has risen by seven places, moving from 140 out of 180 countries in 2022 to 133 in 2023. The CPI assesses public-sector corruption levels based on expert and businesspeople opinions, utilizing a scale of zero to 100, where zero indicates high corruption, and 100 signifies cleanliness.
In the 2023 report, Pakistan achieved a CPI score of 29 out of 100, compared to its score of 27 in 2022 when it held the 140th position.
Transparency International Pakistan Chairman, Justice (retd) Zia Pervez, highlighted the positive impact of governance policies and effective law enforcement, expressing optimism for future improvements through the implementation of Transparency International’s recommendations.
Notably, the neighboring country, India, experienced a slight decrease in its CPI score, dropping from 40 in 2022 to 39 in 2023.
The global analysis revealed that many countries made minimal progress in combating public sector corruption. The global average CPI score remained constant at 43 for the twelfth consecutive year, with over two-thirds of countries scoring below 50.
The Rule of Law Index indicates a decline in the functioning of justice systems worldwide. Countries with lower Rule of Law scores also demonstrated low scores on the CPI, underscoring the connection between access to justice and corruption.
Transparency International Chair Francois Valerian emphasized the necessity of investing in and ensuring the independence of institutions upholding the law to combat corruption effectively. The report stressed that corruption persists until justice systems can punish wrongdoing and hold governments accountable, emphasizing the need to end impunity for corruption.
Denmark maintained its top position on the index for the sixth consecutive year, followed closely by Finland and New Zealand. Countries facing prolonged crises, such as Somalia, Venezuela, Syria, South Sudan, and Yemen, occupied the bottom spots in the index. Some high-ranking democracies and authoritarian states experienced historic lows, while others, including Ireland, South Korea, Armenia, Vietnam, the Maldives, Moldova, Angola, and Uzbekistan, showed improvement on the CPI scores. Conversely, since 2018, several countries, spanning low to high-income economies, experienced significant declines in their CPI scores.
