Greece at the bottom of corruption index among EU peers
Greece scored 43 out of 100 points on the perception of corruption scale published by Berlin-based NGO Transparency International on Wednesday, but showing that it has made some progress from last year when it scored 40 points.
The score of 43 also shows that Greece is seen as the most corrupt nation in the European Union – along with Bulgaria, Romania and Italy – far below the best-performing Denmark, which scored 92.
The ranking, which covers 175 countries, is based on expert opinions of public sector corruption on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
“The 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index shows that economic growth is undermined and efforts to stop corruption fade when leaders and high level officials abuse power to appropriate public funds for personal gain,” said Jose Ugaz, chairman of Transparency International.
“Countries at the bottom need to adopt radical anti-corruption measures in favor of their people. Countries at the top of the index should make sure they don’t export corrupt practices to underdeveloped countries,” he said.
More than two thirds of the 175 countries in the 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index scored below 50. North Korea and Somalia shared last place, scoring just eight.
