Corruption continues to be a predominant problem and without any improvement for more than five years in the vast majority of countries in the Americas, according to a report released on Tuesday by the organization Transparency International, which places Venezuela, Haiti and Nicaragua as the most corrupt nations in the region.
Uruguay and Canada, on the other hand, appear as the least corrupt countries, followed by the United States.
The average Corruption Perceptions Index 2022 score in the region is 43 points out of 100, with nearly two-thirds of the countries scoring less than 50 points. In 27 of the 32 countries in the Americas, no progress is seen since 2016, Transparency International said in its annual report on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) .
Created in 1995, the index ranks 180 countries and territories according to perceptions of the level of corruption in the public sector. It uses a scale ranging from zero, for the most corrupt, to 100, for the least corrupt. Transparencia uses information from 13 external sources, including the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, private consulting firms and experts.
Uruguay and Canada are the least corrupt countries in the region, with 74 points. Venezuela, on the other hand, appears as the most corrupt, with 14 points, followed by Haiti, with 17, and Nicaragua with 19.
Chile and Costa Rica, which traditionally obtained the best performances in the index of Latin American countries, are not prioritizing the fight against corruption, and remain in the same position, with 67 and 54 points respectively, according to the report.
Colombia has 39 points, Brazil 38, Peru and Ecuador 36, El Salvador 33, Dominican Republic 32, Mexico 31, Honduras 23.
Nor globally is combating corruption a priority task: 95% of all countries have made only minimal or no progress since 2017, according to Transparency International.
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