Transparency International corruption perceptions index 2004

The Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2004 was launched in London on 20 October 2004. The CPI that now ranks 146 countries measures the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians in a given country. The CPI is a composite poll and draws on 18 surveys from 12 independent institutions. The surveys, carried out among business people and country analysts, both local and expatriate, were provided to TI during the period 2002-2004, and no country has been included in the CPI without results from a minimum of three surveys.

"Corruption in large-scale public projects is a daunting obstacle to sustainable development, and results in a major loss of public funds needed for education, healthcare and poverty alleviation, both in developed and developing countries," said Transparency International (TI) Chairman Peter Eigen today at the launch of the TI Corruption Perceptions Index 2004.

"If we hope to reach the Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people living in extreme poverty by 2015, governments need to seriously tackle corruption in public contracting," said Eigen. TI estimates that the amount lost due to bribery in government procurement is at least US$ 400 billion per year worldwide."

According to this index, a total of 106 out of 146 countries score less than 5 against a clean score of 10. Sixty countries score less than 3 out of 10, indicating rampant corruption. Corruption is perceived to be most acute in Bangladesh, Haiti, Nigeria, Chad, Myanmar, Azerbaijan and Paraguay, all of which have a score of less than 2.

• Resource link:
  http://www.transparency.org/ cpi/2004/cpi2004.en.html
• Published: 20 October 2004
• Source: Transparency International (http://www.transparency.org)
• Added to ADG on: 24 November 2004 , contributed by: Transparency International
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