Corruption Perceptions Index 2023

ASIA PACIFIC As the Asia Pacific region faces a big 2024 election year, the 2023 CPI reveals another year of little to no meaningful progress towards curbing corruption. For five years in a row, the average CPI score for the region stagnates stubbornly at 45 out of a possible 100. Very few countries show sustained turnarounds that indicate significant changes in corruption levels. Several historically at the top are slowly declining. Sixty-eight per cent of the countries across Asia and the Pacific have a CPI score below 50. These weak scores reflect the lack of delivery by elected officials on anti-corruption agendas, together with crackdowns on civil society and attacks on freedoms of press, assembly and association. The Pacific continues to grapple with the impact of climate change and remains a focal point for geopolitical tensions between China and the West. While there’s a steady influx of economic, military or financial incentives to support its development and climate goals, many Pacific countries have weak governance systems, which some donors overlook, exposing these substantial investments to high risk of corruption . Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer revealed the prevalence of corruption around election processes in Asia and the Pacific. These findings show the serious implications for the ability of elections to bring in governments that can be trusted to effectively control and curb corruption. 31 COUNTRIES 45 AVERAGE SCORE LATEST IMPROVERS LATEST DECLINERS NEW MAXIMUM SCORES NEW MINIMUM SCORES NEPAL 35 and TIMOR-LESTE 43 BANGLADESH 24 , FIJI 52 , NEW ZEALAND 85 and SRI LANKA 34 MALDIVES (+10 points since 2019) 39 /100 NEPAL (+4 points since 2018) 35 /100 VIETNAM (+8 points since 2018) 41 /100 MYANMAR (-9 points since 2018) 20 /100 SRI LANKA (-4 points since 2018) 34 /100 TOP SCORERS BOTTOM SCORERS SINGAPORE NEW ZEALAND 85 /100 83 /100 75 /100 75 /100 AUSTRALIA HONG KONG AFGHANISTAN 20 /100 20 /100 MYANMAR 17 /100 NORTH KOREA CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS INDEX 2023 15 Embargoed until 07.01am CET (Berlin) 30 January 2024