KATHMANDU: Nepal slipped one position down despite scoring two points more than that of last year in the Corruption Perceptions Index made public by the Transparency International today.

Nepal has slipped to the 131st position in the Index. Last year, Nepal was at the 130th position.

Nepal shares the position with Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine with 29 points.

Denmark and New Zealand are at the top of the charts as the least corrupted country with 90 points followed by Finland, Sweden and Switzerland with 89, 88 and 86 points respectively.

Meanwhile, Somalia is the most corrupted country and lies at the bottom of the table with only 10 points.

Among the SAARC nations, Bhutan stands at 27th position with 66 points, India at 79th position with 40 points, Sri Lanka and Maldives share the 95th position with 36 points, Pakistan is at 116th position with 32 points, Bangladesh at 145th position with 26 and Afghanistan is at the 169th position with 15 points.

As many as 176 countries were evaluated and ranked.

According to the organisation, unaccountable governments, lack of oversight, insecurity and shrinking space for civil society, pushing anti-corruption action, high-profile corruption scandals, in addition to everyday corruption issues, undermined public trust in government and the benefits of democracy and the rule of law were among the indicators to determine the position.