Corruption index 2012: United States is 19th

Which country is most corrupt? North Korea is still officially considered the world’s most corrupt country, along with Somalia and Afghanistan. But why has the US gone up six places to 19th and the United Kingdoms score worsened to 18th? See how the annual corruption index has changed.

• Download the latest data
• Interactive map of this data
• Last year’s data

The Index, which is closely watched by investors, economists, and civil society campaigners, is based on expert assessments and data from 13 surveys from independent institutions, covering issues such as access to information, bribery of public officials, kickbacks in public procurement, and the enforcement of anti-corruption laws. While critics note that measuring perceptions of corruption is not the same as measuring corruption itself, the latter is almost impossible to do – as the corrupt are usually keen to cover up their tracks, hard data on graft and bribery is notoriously difficult to come by.