Israel improved slightly in an index released this week that serves as a barometer of public sector corruption worldwide, while leading powers such as the United States and France and authoritarian nations such as Russia and Venezuela had their worst showings in over a decade.

Transparency International, which compiles the annual Corruption Perceptions Index, said 47 countries out of the 180 it surveyed had their lowest score last year since it started using its current methodology for its global ranking in 2012. It said of its 2024 survey that “global corruption levels remain alarmingly high, with efforts to reduce them faltering.”

In contrast, Israel’s score rose two points since the 2023 survey, from 63 to 65 out of 100, placing it 30th out of 180 countries surveyed. Israel’s score on the survey has generally been rising for the past few years, and is up from 59 in 2021.

The organization measures the perception of public sector corruption according to 13 data sources, including the World Bank, the World Economic Forum and private risk and consulting companies. It ranks 180 countries and territories on a scale from a “highly corrupt” 0 to a “very clean” 100.

The global average remained unchanged from 2023 at 43, with more than two-thirds of countries scoring under 50, Transparency International said.

Denmark held on to first place with an unchanged 90 points, followed by Finland with........

© The Times of Israel