Nigeria has been ranked 140th out of 180 countries in the 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index, according to a report by Transparency International.
The latest ranking, released on Tuesday, shows that Nigeria has moved up five spots compared to the 2023 report and ten spots compared to the 2022 ranking.
Denmark was ranked as the least corrupt country with 90 points, followed by Finland with 88 points and Singapore in third place with 84 points.
On the other hand, the most corrupt countries in the world, according to the report, were South Sudan, Somalia, and Venezuela.
Notably, no African country made it into the top 10, as the ranking was dominated by European nations.
The report also revealed that Nigeria shares the same score of 26 points with Uganda, Mexico, Madagascar, Iraq, and Cameroon.
In Africa, Cape Verde emerged as the least corrupt country, ranking 35th globally with 62 points.
“The 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) shows that corruption is a dangerous problem in every part of the world, but change for the better is happening in many countries,” the chair of Transparency International, Francois Valeria, said.
“Research also reveals that corruption is a major threat to climate action. It hinders progress in reducing emissions and adapting to the unavoidable effects of global heating.
“The CPI ranks 180 countries and territories worldwide by their perceived levels of public sector corruption. The results are given on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).”
To Valeria, while 32 countries have significantly reduced their corruption levels since 2012, there’s still a huge amount of work to be done – 148 countries have stayed stagnant or gotten worse during the same period.
“The global average of 43 has also stood still for years, while over two-thirds of countries score below 50. Billions of people live in countries where corruption destroys lives and undermines human rights,” he said.
