US drops out of top 20 in table of least corrupt
Source: Agencies |
October 27, 2010, Wednesday
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THE United States has dropped out of the "top 20" in a global league table of least corrupt nations, tarnished by financial scandals and the influence of money in politics, Transparency International said yesterday.
Somalia was judged the most corrupt country, followed by Myanmar and Afghanistan at joint second-worst and then by Iraq, in the Berlin-based watchdog TI's annual corruption perceptions index.
The US fell to 22nd from 19th last year, with its CPI score dropping to 7.1 from 7.5 in the index, covering more than 170 nations, which is based on independent surveys on corruption.
This was the lowest score awarded to the US in the index's 15-year history and also the first time it had fallen out of the top 20.
In the Americas, this put the US behind Canada in sixth place, Barbados at 17th and Chile in 21st place.
Jointly heading the index - in which a score of 10 indicates a country with the highest standards, and 0 as highly corrupt - were Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore with 9.3. They were also at the top of the table last year.
Somalia scored 1.1. The watchdog group said its table was based on "different assessments and business opinion surveys carried out by independent and reputable institutions."
Nancy Boswell, president of TI in the US, said lending practices in the subprime crisis, the disclosure of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme and rows over political funding had rattled public faith about prevailing ethics in America.
"We're not talking about corruption in the sense of breaking the law," she said. "We're talking about a sense that the system is corrupted by these practices. There's an integrity deficit."
The index showed a number of countries - including Iran - climbing up the chart significantly from 2009.
Somalia was judged the most corrupt country, followed by Myanmar and Afghanistan at joint second-worst and then by Iraq, in the Berlin-based watchdog TI's annual corruption perceptions index.
The US fell to 22nd from 19th last year, with its CPI score dropping to 7.1 from 7.5 in the index, covering more than 170 nations, which is based on independent surveys on corruption.
This was the lowest score awarded to the US in the index's 15-year history and also the first time it had fallen out of the top 20.
In the Americas, this put the US behind Canada in sixth place, Barbados at 17th and Chile in 21st place.
Jointly heading the index - in which a score of 10 indicates a country with the highest standards, and 0 as highly corrupt - were Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore with 9.3. They were also at the top of the table last year.
Somalia scored 1.1. The watchdog group said its table was based on "different assessments and business opinion surveys carried out by independent and reputable institutions."
Nancy Boswell, president of TI in the US, said lending practices in the subprime crisis, the disclosure of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme and rows over political funding had rattled public faith about prevailing ethics in America.
"We're not talking about corruption in the sense of breaking the law," she said. "We're talking about a sense that the system is corrupted by these practices. There's an integrity deficit."
The index showed a number of countries - including Iran - climbing up the chart significantly from 2009.
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