Perceptions of corruption among Asia-Pacific countries remained almost unchanged in 2021, with New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong among the world’s best performers but Cambodia, Afghanistan and North Korea again ranked with the worst.
Transparency International (TI) said “grand corruption” and a lack of freedoms were holding back progress in the Asia-Pacific region.
While Asia-Pacific countries have made great strides in controlling bribery for public services, an average score of 45 out of 100 on the 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index shows much more needs to be done to solve the region’s corruption problems.
“Some higher-scoring countries are even experiencing a decline as governments fail to address grand corruption, uphold rights and consult citizens,” TI said in its annual report.
Of the 180 countries ranked by TI, it said weak scores were recorded among the world’s most populous nations, with China and India ranked 66 and 85 respectively and Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh coming in at 96, 140 and 147.