Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2020: India plummets to 86th position 

Transparency International released the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) of 180 countries/ territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, as per experts and business people.

The top countries on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) are Denmark and New Zealand, followed by Finland, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland. The bottom countries on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) are South Sudan and Somalia, followed by Syria, Yemen and Venezuela.

The index highlighted that India experienced slow progress in anti-corruption efforts, with several government commitments to reform not yet materialising effectively. India slipped six places to 86th position among 180 countries, scoring 40 in the index. 

Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI)

CPI: It paints a grim picture of the state of corruption worldwide, as per Transparency International.  

Scale: It rates countries on a scale of 0 to 100, where 100 is very clean and 0 is highly corrupt. 

Average Score: The average score of this year's index is 43/100. 

Global Highlights: This year's CPI shows corruption is more pervasive in countries that are least equipped to handle COVID-19 pandemic and other global crisis. 

Highest Scoring Region: Western Europe and the European Union are the highest-scoring regions with an average regional score of 66/100. 

Lowest Scoring Region: Sub-Saharan Africa is the lowest scoring region with an average regional score of 32/100.

Regional Score

Highlights of the report:

1- Peru faces structural corruption, impunity and political instability. It is to be noted that in less than five years, it has rejected four presidents, three of whom are under investigation for corruption.

2- Transparency is paramount for a successful recovery from COVID-19 and natural disasters in Honduras.

3- The report underscored that in Vanuatu, strong political will is required to address corruption and improving transparency and accountability.

4- The protection of human rights in Myanmar, including freedoms of speech, assembly and association, is a critical foundation for good governance and integrity.

5- Corruption contributes to challenges with the rule of law, erosion of democratic norms and the silencing of critical voices in Serbia.

6- Mass protests and police brutality rocked Belarus which continues to struggle with grand corruption and state capture in 2020. 

7- The COVID-19 pandemic and Beirut blast presented major challenges to anti-corruption efforts in Lebanon. 

8- Corruption contributes to the poor health system and a lack of an effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Morocco. 

9- Malawi has an opportunity to strengthen good governance and promote anti-corruption efforts to reverse the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the economy. 

10- Commitment to procurement reforms will support greater transparency and accountability in Zambia. 

11- Malta faces significant corruption challenges and suffers one of the steepest declines in the rule of law.

12- Government leaders exploit the COVID-19 crisis for political gain, undermining democracy, human rights and anti-corruption efforts in Poland. 

CPI 2020: Score, Countries/Territories and Rank

CPI 2020: Recommendations

In a bid to curb COVID-19 pandemic and corruption, Transparency International underscored several recommendations in CPI 2020 report. 

1- Countries must strengthen oversight institutions. 

2- It is essential for countries to ensure open and transparent contracting. 

3- Countries across the globe must defend democracy and promote civic space. 

4- In addition to the above, the countries must publish relevant data and guarantee access. 

CPI 2020: Methodology

Below mentioned steps are taken to calculate CPI:

1- Data sources: Each data source must fulfil the following criteria: (a) Quantifies risks or perceptions of corruption in the public sector (b) Is based on a reliable and valid methodology (c) Comes from a reputable organisation (d) Allows for sufficient variation of scores to distinguish between countries (e) Ranks a substantial number of countries (f) Considers only the assessments of country experts or business people (g) Is regularly updated. 

It is to be noted that CPI 2020 has been calculated using 13 different data sources from 12 different institutions that capture perceptions of corruption within the past two years. 

2- Standardisation on a scale from 0 to 100: It is done by subtracting the mean of each source in the baseline year from each country score, then dividing by the standard deviation of that source in the baseline year. After this, the scores are transformed to the CPI scale by multiplying them with the value of the CPI standard deviation in 2012 (20) and adding the mean of the CPI in 2012 (45), so that the dataset fits the CPI’s 0-100 scale.

3- Calculation of average: A minimum of three sources must assess the country to be included in the CPI. A nation's CPI is calculated as the average of all standardised scores available for that country and are rounded to whole numbers. 

4- Measure of uncertainty: The CPI score is accompanied by a standard error and confidence interval. It captures the variation across the data sources available for a country or territory. 

Source: Transparency International

EIU's Democracy Index 2020: India falls to 53rd position

Human Freedom Index 2020: India plummets 17 notches, ranked at 111th position