Finland ranks 3rd in least corrupt countries index

Finland ranked third in the index of least corrupt countries published by Transparency International (TI) on Tuesday.

Another Nordic country Denmark ranked top in the list with 88 points out of 100 while New Zealand secured second position in the index obtaining 87 points.

Finland secured 85 points to retain third place for the consecutive second term followed by Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland.

Somalia is in the bottom of the list of 180 countries followed by Syria, South Sudan, Yemen and North Korea.

The Corruption Perception Index (CPI), which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople, uses a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

More than two-thirds of countries scored below 50 on this year’s CPI, with an average score of just 43.

While there are exceptions, the data shows that despite some progress, most countries are failing to make serious inroads against corruption, said the report.

“Corruption chips away at democracy to produce a vicious cycle, where corruption undermines democratic institutions and, in turn, weak institutions are less able to control corruption,” said Patricia Moreira, Managing Director of the Transparency International.

“Our research makes a clear link between having a healthy democracy and successfully fighting public sector corruption. Corruption is much more likely to flourish where democratic foundations are weak and, as we have seen in many countries, where undemocratic and populist politicians can use it to their advantage,” said Delia Ferreira Rubio, chair of Transparency International.