KUWAIT: Kuwait improved seven ranks in the latest Corruption Perception Index released by Transparency International yesterday, marking a notable recovery after it recorded its lowest mark in six years last year. The Corruption Perception Index 2018 ranks Kuwait 78th out of 180 countries, with a score of 41 points out of a possible 100. Kuwait had ranked 85th out of 161 countries in the 2017 index, in which it scored 39 points.

Kuwait was tied in 78th place in this year's index with six other countries - Burkina Faso, Ghana, India, Lesotho, Trinidad and Tobago and Turkey, all of whom finished with 41 points as well. Kuwait maintained its eighth rank among Arab countries, trailing the United Arab Emirates (23rd worldwide), Qatar (33), Oman (53), Jordan (58), Saudi Arabia (58), Morocco (73) and Tunisia (73).

Public Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) chief Abdul Rahman Al-Namash pointed out that the relative progress made by Kuwait is a good thing and represents a push forward towards boosting efforts to enhance integrity and fight corruption. He also expressed hope that the government's and Nazaha's efforts in this regard will help achieve more positive results and move Kuwait to a more deserved rank on the index.

This year's Corruption Perception Index reveals that the continued failure of most countries to significantly control corruption is contributing to a crisis in democracy around the world. The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople, uses a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

More than two-thirds of countries score below 50 on this year's CPI, with an average score of just 43. While there are exceptions, the data shows that despite some progress, most countries are failing to make serious inroads against corruption. The top countries are Denmark and New Zealand with scores of 88 and 87 respectively. The bottom countries are Somalia, Syria and South Sudan, with scores of 10, 13 and 13 respectively.

By Meshaal Al-Enezi