Ethics Institute's analysis of 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index

The Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (CPI) was first released in 1995 and has played an important part in focusing global attention on corruption issues.

The CPI gives an annual indication of perceptions of public sector corruption in a list of countries which numbered 168 in the latest survey which was released on 27 January 2016.

Here are some quick facts about the CPI to place South Africa’s performance in context:
• The CPI scores countries based on perceived levels of corruption, with 0 being negative (very corrupt) and 100 being positive (no corruption). 
• South Africa’s CPI score has remained the same as last year at 44.
• Our relative ranking has however improved from 67 to 61 (out of 168 countries) indicating that some countries have deteriorated relative to SA. 
• South Africa is ranked number 10 out of the 52 African countries that were included in the 2015 study. Countries that were ranked better than SA include our neighbours Botswana, Namibia and Lesotho, as well as Rwanda, Ghana and Senegal. 
• South Africa (with a score of 44) is the best performing BRICS country, followed by Brazil and India (38), China (37) and Russia (29).
• Looking at the data over a ten year period from 2005 to 2015, South Africa’s CPI has declined only one percentage point from 45 in 2005 to 44 in 2015.
• Our relative position has however declined more dramatically. In 2005 we were in the top 29% of countries, and in 2015 we are in the top 36%. 
• This shows that other countries are improving at a higher rate than we are. Analysing the CPI data from 2005 to 2015 we found that 98 countries have improved over this period, 8 have stayed the same and 49 have declined. 
• Significant improvement on the index is possible as is shown by the three biggest improvers from 2005 to 2015. Georgia improved by 29 per cent, Poland by 28 per cent, and Rwanda by 23 per cent.

ENDS

MEDIA CONTACT: Cathlen Fourie, 082 222 9198, [email protected], www.atthatpoint.co.za 

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