Transparency International has just released its 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index, the preeminent, annual study of governmental corruption levels around the world.
This time, they've added a nice little interactive map--not much too it, besides the fact that mousing over the country gives you the numeric value. But it does give you a great indication of what countries do well, relative to their neighbors and what countries are basically sinkholes of graft and fraud. For example, Uruguay and Botswana do far better than the countries around them--no wonder that Botswana in particular is a prime example of economic development that works.
The CPI is a survey of surveys, which combines indexes found in 13 feeder studies with the expertise of academics who follow these issues. (Experts are polled on questions like how well a country's courts work, and the effectiveness of its watch dog agencies.)
If you're new to the study, the most surprising thing will be how poorly the U.S. does, relative to its first world peers. We're basically just a shade above some pretty dicey governments. The reasons are complex, but you can point to the influence of lobbying on our lawmaking and the ongoing controversy over how we've prosecuted the war on terror, among other things.
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Recent Comments | 10 Total
November 18, 2009 at 6:10am by Ihab Abdelmoneim
most corrupt nations on the face of the planet, our dear Sudan
November 18, 2009 at 9:25am by Susan Rainey
Uraguay? Botswanna? Is your spell check not working?
November 18, 2009 at 11:52am by Marcus Goodyear
I love FastCompany, but this seems a bit misleading to me.
You say the US is "basically just a shade above some pretty dicey governments." Which countries are you talking about? France and Spain are one shade more corrupt than the US. Do they qualify as pretty dicey?
November 18, 2009 at 1:10pm by Cliff Kuang
@Marcus---You're right about that one sentence--I've stricken it above. And @Susan, that spelling has been corrected
November 18, 2009 at 1:19pm by Chris Reich
We can strengthen, not weaken, the United States by teaching and spreading ethics. Real integrity just doesn't count for much these days and that is costing us---the recent economic disaster is largely due to greed and unethical trading and lending practices.
We too easily dismiss the foibles of our politicians as they fall from the Senate in shame into lobbying positions at $millions per year.
CEOs take huge salaries and perks while destroying solid viable and important parts of the U.S. industrial base.
Still, few companies even want to discuss an ethics program even though it could save most companies millions if not billions in fines and settlements. Go figure.
Chris Reich
www.TeachU.com
November 18, 2009 at 1:34pm by Chris Reich
Interesting that the two governments we sacrificed lives, limbs and treasure to establish, Iraq and Afghanistan are among the most corrupt in the world.
I'll bet the people are grateful for the 100,000+ civilian casualties and the crooked governments we've given them.
Christopher Reich, The Ethics Project
www.InnisFreeRanch.com
November 18, 2009 at 11:21pm by CChaos CChaos
anybody noticed that the top countries above the U.S. all have universal health care? you can see it on the table here - http://transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2009/cpi_200...
which makes me think that there could be some important correlation between health care and corruption. i'm just sayin'.
~C
November 20, 2009 at 5:31am by Jack Lucky
chartsbin.com has made a interactive map with this data, looks more interesting than original. Worth looking. "Corruption around the World" http://chartsbin.com/view/nz2
November 21, 2009 at 4:50am by Angelo Griffin
I cannot make sense of it, sorry (the diagram).
Twistys
December 2, 2009 at 1:13pm by Mark Berry
This is a great infographic. And this is why I love FastCompany. New things!
That said, I agree. This the most biased, and unscientific article I've ever seen from FastCompany in 10 years. Just because there are 11 1st world countries that are more transparent, it doesn't imply that he US "doesn't fare great".
In this article http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/first_world.htm it lists 24 1st world countries. (I googled "list of 1st world countries") I'm pretty sure we are exactly average, 12th place. Did I count that right? Being an average 1st world country doesn't mean the US fares poorly at all.
Being average isn't great, but it *is* still an interesting topic. Questions: Which countries are better than us? And why? Which countries are worse? And why?
How does this impact my Holiday vacation? I wanted to go to South America, but now I see Chile is the best in the Transparency department. Maybe I should go there?
These are all inquiries that could be delved into instead of making sweeping false judgements.
Thank you, though, for doing the research to find the GREAT infographic, and the adjoining links. They are great! I also liked the reasons why the US isn't doing better - it made me think!