Somalia - corruption

War-torn countries produce greatest corruption

Article published on the 2009-11-18 Latest update 2009-11-18 09:30 TU

Transparency international's corruption index

Somalia has been named as the world’s most corrupt country as wartorn nations proved once again that conflict provides fertile ground for all manner of dishonest dealings.

The annual index by Transparency International ranked 180 countries on a scale of zero to 10 according to 13 independent surveys, with zero being perceived as highly corrupt and 10 as having low levels of corruption.

Somalia had the lowest score of 1.1, Afghanistan was 1.3, Myanmar ranked 1.4 and Sudan tied with Iraq at 1.5. Haiti, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Chad rounded out the bottom ten.

"Stemming corruption requires strong oversight by parliaments, a well-performing judiciary, independent and properly resourced audit and anti-corruption agencies, vigorous law enforcement, transparency in public budgets, revenue and aid flows, as well as space for independent media and a vibrant civil society," said Huguette Labelle, chairwoman of Transparency International.

"The international community must find efficient ways to help war-torn countries to develop and sustain their own institutions."

More than 130 of the countries scored below five. Greece and Romania, both ranked 3.8, were rated the most corrupt countries with the 27-nation European Union.

At the head of the list, the least corrupt nation in the world, was New Zealand with a score of 9.4, just ahead of Denmark, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland.

The United States was 19th in the list with a score of 7.5 while France were 24th with 6.8.