Kathmandu: Nepal has been ranked 117th in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) by Transparency International. As per the report, Nepal remained unchanged in the rankings compared to the earlier year.
According to the report by the global civil society organization fighting against corruption, Nepal scored 32 points to remain unchanged in the rankings.
The Index ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople. It relies on 13 independent data sources and uses a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
“As per the score, Nepal is still in the group of corrupt countries. Nepal’s score has remained unchanged. This can be taken as a sign that no progress has been made in controlling corruption,” Transparency International Nepal said in a statement.
The global report reveals that the corruption levels remain at a standstill worldwide, two years into the devastating Covid-19 pandemic.
Despite commitments on paper, 131 countries have made no significant progress against corruption over the last decade, and this year 27 countries are at a historic low in their CPI score, according to the report.
This year, the top countries are Denmark, Finland and New Zealand, each with a score of 88. Norway (85), Singapore (85), Sweden (85), Switzerland (84), the Netherlands (82), Luxembourg (81) and Germany (80) complete the top 10.
South Sudan (11), Syria (13) and Somalia (13) remain at the bottom of the index.
Despite commitments on paper, 131 countries have made no significant progress against corruption over the last decade, and this year 27 countries are at a historic low in their CPI score, according to the report.
Countries experiencing armed conflict or authoritarianism tend to earn the lowest scores, including Venezuela (14), Afghanistan (16), North Korea (16), Yemen (16), Equatorial Guinea (17), Libya (17) and Turkmenistan (19).
The 2021 CPI results show that countries with well-protected civil and political liberties generally control corruption better. The fundamental freedoms of association and expression are crucial in the fight for a world free of corruption.
There is an urgent need to accelerate the fight against corruption if we are to halt human rights abuses and democratic decline across the globe, Transparency International stressed.
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