Finland least corrupt nation

Baltic states, eh, well, not so good

Transparency International has once again published its Corruption Perception Index (CPI), and named these states the least corrupt in the world: Finland, Iceland and New Zealand (tied for first), Denmark, and Singapore.

Estonia climbed to the position of 24^th least corrupt this year (from 27^th last year). Latvia climbed from 51^st to 49^th, and Lithuania fell from 44^th to 46^th. Russia climbed from 126^th to 121^st position. An index of under five signals a government which is not able to effectively fight corruption (hence Latvia’s 4.6 and Lithuania’s 4.8). Estonia’s index was slightly better at 6.7. Corruption was perceived to be most abundant in Haiti, Burma and Iraq.

Of course, it’s difficult to measure actual corruption, though City Paper staff economists will soon tackle the job. Stay tuned for results from our DRS (Dirty Rotten Scoundrel) Index Survey.