Transparency International findings illustrate "vicious circle" of poverty and corruption
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"There is no end in sight to the misuse of power by those in public office-and corruption levels are perceived to be as high as ever in both the developed and developing worlds," said Peter Eigen, Chair of Transparency International, speaking at a Paris press conference in June to launch the nonprofit organization's Corruption Perceptions Index 2001. "There is a worldwide corruption crisis," he continued, "and that is the clear message from the Corruption Perceptions Index 2001, which reflects the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians.
Scores of less than 5 out of a clean score of 10 are registered by countries on every continent, including members of the Organization of American States and the European Union."
This year's index ranks 91 countries. Some of the richest countries in the world-Finland, Denmark, New Zealand, Iceland, Singapore, and Sweden- scored 9 or higher out of 10 in the new index, indicating very low levels of perceived corruption. But 55 countries-many of which are among the world's poorest-scored less than 5, suggesting high levels of perceived corruption in government and public administration.
The index, first launched in 1995, is a poll of polls- this year drawing on 14 surveys from 7 independent institutions. The surveys reflect the perceptions of businesspeople, academics, and country analysts.
According to the Transparency International website, surveys are used because hard empirical data on corruption levels across countries do not exist. The surveys are recent (undertaken over the past three years), and a minimum of three surveys must be available before a country can be included in the index. This prudent approach, Eigen said, means that probably a number of countries with high corruption levels are not included. And because only three or four data sources are available for some countries and wide variations exist between individual survey results, he cautioned that small differences in ranking between countries should not be overstated. But he also warned that governments ignore the index at their peril. The index, he said, reflects how countries are viewed by businesspeople and country analysts across the globe.
Transparency International Vice-Chair Tunku Abdul Aziz also noted that perceived levels of corruption can be measured...
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