Pakistan’s ranking on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) has improved by seven spots from 140 out of 180 countries in 2022 to 133 in 2023, Transparency International said in a report on Tuesday.

The CPI ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public-sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople. It relies on 13 independent data sources and uses a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

The report published today by the Berlin-based corruption watchdog, shows that during 2023, the country’s ranking was 133 while the CPI score was 29 out of 100.

In comparison, Pakistan’s ranking in 2022 was 140, unchanged from the previous year, while the CPI score was 27.

It should be noted that neighbouring India’s CPI score dropped from 40 in 2022 to 39 in 2023.

In his remarks, Transparency International Pakistan Chairman Justice (retd) Zia Pervez noted the improvement in Pakistan’s score in the index.

He said that policies aimed at better governance and effective enforcement of the law were expected to yield positive results in the future, as well as implementation of the recommendations by Transparency International.

The 2023 CPI shows that most countries have made little to no progress in tackling public sector corruption. The CPI global average remains unchanged at 43 for the twelfth year in a row, with more than two-thirds of countries scoring below 50.

According to the Rule of Law Index, the world is experiencing a decline in the functioning of justice systems. Countries with the lowest scores in this index are also scoring very low on the CPI, highlighting a clear connection between access to justice and corruption, the report said.

Transparency International Chair Francois Valerian said: “Corruption will continue to thrive until justice systems can punish wrongdoing and keep governments in check. When justice is bought or politically interfered with, it is the people who suffer. Leaders should fully invest in and guarantee the independence of institutions that uphold the law and tackle corruption. It is time to end impunity for corruption.”

Global highlights

Denmark (90) tops the index for the sixth consecutive year, with Finland and New Zealand following closely with scores of 87 and 85, respectively. Due to well-functioning justice systems, these countries are also among the top scorers in the Rule of Law Index.

Somalia (11), Venezuela (13), Syria (13), South Sudan (13) and Yemen (16) take the bottom spots in the index. They are all affected by protracted crises, mostly armed conflicts.

Twenty-three countries — among them some high-ranking democracies like Iceland (72), the Netherlands (79), Sweden (82) and the United Kingdom (71), as well as some authoritarian states like Iran (24), Russia (26), Tajikistan (20) and Venezuela (13) — are all at historic lows this year.

Since 2018, 12 countries have significantly declined on their CPI scores. The list includes low and middle-income countries such as El Salvador (31), Honduras (23), Liberia (25), Myanmar (20), Nicaragua (17), Sri Lanka (34) and Venezuela (13), as well as upper-middle and high income economies like Argentina (37), Austria (71), Poland (54), Turkey (34) and the United Kingdom (71).

Eight countries improved on the CPI during that same period: Ireland (77), South Korea (63), Armenia (46), Vietnam (42), the Maldives (40), Moldova (39), Angola (33) and Uzbekistan (31).