Denmark, New Zealand ranked least corrupt nations, Nigeria 136th and Somalia most corrupt

Denmark and New Zealand has been ranked as the least corrupt nations in the world by Global anti-corruption watchdog, Transparency International while Nigeria was ranked at 136th, Cyprus at 47th, Greece at 69th, Turkey at 78th and the US at 18th while Somalia was ranked the most corrupt country in the world.

TI who released the corruption index on Wednesday warned that people who turned to populist politicians promising to change the status quo and end corruption due to growing levels of perceived corruption and social inequality may only be increasing the problem.

Transparency International said countries with populist or autocratic leaders usually install even far worse forms of corrupt systems,” “instead of tackling crony capitalism. 

The new annual report rated Denmark and New Zealand as the least-corrupt countries in the world, followed by Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, and Norway making up the top five. Singapore, the Netherlands, Canada, and Germany, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom who were all tied completed the top 10 spot.

War torn African nation, Somalia was ranked the most corrupt country for the 10th year, followed by South Sudan, North Korea, and Syria.

The United States is placed 18th, down from 16th in 2015 while Japan is 20th, down from 18 in 2015 and Cyprus is ranked 47th. Greece is place 69th while Turkey is placed 78th though tie on 75 with Kuwait and Tunisia.

Qatar had the biggest drop in confidence in 2016 after scandals involving the FIFA and reports of human rights abuses.

Botswana is ranked as Africa's least corrupt country in 35 followed by Cape Verde in 38 and Rwanda in 50th. Namibia 53th and Senegal 54th make the top five in Africa. South Africa 64th, Ghana 70th, Tunisia 75th, Zambia 87th and Liberia 90th complete the top 10 in Africa.

According to TI, 69% of 176 countries scored below 50 on the scale of 0-100.

Transparency International corruption perception Index 2016
Scale from 100 (very clean) to 0 (highly corrupt)
1. Denmark (90)
1. New Zealand (90)
3. Finland (89)
4. Sweden (88)
5. Switzerland (86)
6. Norway (85)
7. Singapore (84)
8. Netherlands (83)
9. Canada (82)
10. Germany, Britain and Luxembourg (81)
18. US (74)
13. Australia (79)
47. Cyprus (55)
69. Greece (44)
75. Turkey (41)
87. Zambia (38)
90. Liberia (37)
91. Morocco (37)
18. United States (74)
108. Egypt (34) 
131. Iran (29)
134. Russia (29)
136. Nigeria (28)
144. Cameroon (26) 
147. Gambia (26)
148. Kenya (26)
152. Uganda (25)
154. Turkmenistan (22)
155. Zimbabwe (22)
170. Libya (14)
172. Yemen (14)
173. Syria (13)
174. North Korea (12)
175. South Sudan (11)
176. Somalia (10)