Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) report for 2025 has been released, with Australia moving down from 10th to 12th in rankings, with a score of 76 points on the 100-point scale.
The 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) measures perceived levels of public-sector corruption in 182 countries and territories, drawing on 13 independent data sources and using a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). This year, the global CPI average has dropped for the first time in more than a decade to just 42 out of 100.
This year, the highest ranked nation was Denmark (89), for the eighth time in a row, with a score of 89. Only a small group of 15 countries, mainly in Western Europe and Asia-Pacific, manage to get scores above 75. Of these, just five reach scores above 80.
Meanwhile, over two thirds of countries (68 per cent) fall below 50, indicating serious corruption problems in most parts of the planet. At the bottom of the index, the countries scoring below 25 are mostly conflict-affected and highly repressive countries, such as Venezuela (10) and the lowest scorers, Somalia and South Sudan, which both score nine.
Recommendations by Transparency International in their 2025 CPI report include:
- Ensure independent, transparent and accessible justice institutions
- Tackle undue influence on political decision making
- Give people harmed by corruption access to justice
- foster civic space and anti-corruption reporting
- Enhance transparency and oversight in public services and public financial management
- Prevent, detect and punish large-scale corruption and illicit financial flows
The CPI shows the contrast in controlling corruption between nations with strong, independent institutions, free and fair elections, and open civic space, and those ruled by repressive authoritarian
regimes. Full democracies have a CPI average of 71, while flawed democracies average 47 and authoritarian regimes just 32.
You can explore the full report here.