Corruption Index Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia have topped a global study for being the most corrupt countries in the world. The Corruption Perceptions Index, a study carried out by Transparency International ranks countries ranks countries and territories based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be. A score indicates the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0 - 100. A score of 0 means that a country is perceived as highly corrupt, whereas 100 means it is perceived as very clean.
This year\'s index includes 176 countries and territories. Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia rank rock bottom in 174th, with a score of just 8. Sudan in 173rd with a score of 13. Iraq is 169th with a score of 18. Yemen is 156th with 23, and Syria 144 with a score of 26.
At the other end, Denmark, Finland and New Zealand have the cleanest public sector with a score of 90. Qatar and UAE are 27th with a score of 68, just five and six points behind the UK and USA.
Transparency International has called on governments to take \"a tougher stance against the abuse of power,\" adding that the index results showed \"there are still many societies and governments that need to give a much higher priority to this issue.\"