Kathmandu, January 23

Nepal has improved its ranking in corruption perception index by climbing to the 113th spot from the previous year’s 124th.

Corruption Perception Index-2019 unveiled by Transparency International has ranked Nepal 113 out of 180 countries with a score of 34.

In South Asia, Bhutan was ranked 25 with a score of 68, India 80 with a score of 41, Sri Lanka 93 with 38, Nepal 113 with 34, Pakistan 120 with 32, Maldives 130 with 29 and Afghanistan 173 with a score of 16. Since its inception, the CPI flagship research product has become the leading global indicator of public sector corruption.

The index released by TI today offers an annual snapshot of the relative degree of corruption by ranking countries and territories from all over the globe.

In 2012, TI revised the methodology used to construct the index to allow for comparison of scores from one year to the next. The CPI-2019 draws on 13 surveys and expert assessments to measure public sector corruption in 180 countries and territories, giving each a score from zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

“To end corruption and restore trust in politics, it is imperative to prevent opportunities for political corruption and to foster the integrity of political systems,”

TI said. It has recommended that the countries manage conflicts of interest, control political financing, strengthen electoral integrity, regulate lobbying activities, empower citizens, tackle preferential treatment and reinforce checks and balances, among other measures to combat corruption.

Not only more than twothirds of countries, along with many of the world’s most advanced economies, are stagnating, but some are seriously backsliding in the index. There are worrying signs of stagnating and backsliding among G7 countries.

The United States, for example, has received its lowest score in eight years. Canada has lost its top 10 rank, while France and the UK have lower score than last year.

The top countries are New Zealand and Denmark, with scores of 87 each, followed by Finland (86), Singapore (85), Sweden (85) and Switzerland (85). The bottom countries are Somalia, South Sudan and Syria with scores of 9, 12 and 13, respectively.

These countries are closely followed by Yemen (15), Venezuela (16), Sudan (16), Equatorial Guinea (16) and Afghanistan (16).

In the last eight years, only 22 countries have shown significant improvement on the CPI, while almost as many have declined. More than 130 countries have made little to no progress in controlling corruption. “In order to end the pervasive corruption shown by our index, governments worldwide need to address the corrupting role of special interest money in political party financing and the undue influence it exerts on political systems,” the report reads.