Singapore ranked as 5th least corrupt country in the world in 2022, only Asian country in top 10

Singapore is ranked the fifth least corrupt country in the world in 2022, according to the anti-corruption body Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). 

The CPI ranks 180 countries and territories around the world by “their perceived levels of public sector corruption”. 

Transparency International calculates the score on a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean), where Singapore is given a score of 83.

Norway beats Singapore with a score of 84, ranking fourth, and Denmark ranks the highest with a score of 90.

This is the lowest Singapore has scored in five years, where it maintained a score 85 from 2018 to 2021. Singapore was ranked third in 2018 and 2020, and fourth in 2019 and 2021.

Each country’s score is a combination of “at least three data sources drawn from 13 different corruption surveys and assessments”, according to Transparency International.

These data sources are “collected by a variety of reputable institutions” and include the World Bank and World Economic Forum.

The non-profit organisation also emphasised on the difference between a country’s rank and score.

The rank is therefore “not as important as the score” in terms of indicating the level of corruption in that country, said Transparency International. A country’s score is defined as the “perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0-100”, where zero means highly corrupt and 100 means very clean. 

Whereas with a country’s rank, its position is “relative to the other countries in the index”.

Ranks can change merely if the number of countries included in the index changes, added Transparency International.

In a press release on Tuesday (Jan 31), the Corrupt Practices Investigation Department (CPIB) announced that Singapore continues to remain the only Asian country ranked in the top 10.

The Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) ranked Singapore as the least corrupt country in its 2022 Report on Corruption in Asia out of 16 economies, according to CPIB.

This is a position Singapore has held since 1995, it added.

Singapore was ranked 3rd for absence of corruption in the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index 2022, the top Asian nation out of 140 countries ranked.

CPIB also shared the results of its Public Perception Survey conducted in 2022, and concluded “strong public confidence” in their “national corruption control efforts”.

The biennale survey consisted of “over 1,000 respondents in Singapore”, where 96 per cent rating Singapore’s corruption control efforts “to be effective” – a two per cent increase from 2020.

CPIB attributes the low corruption rate in Singapore to the top three factors: Political determination, heavy punishment for corruption offences, and a zero tolerance culture for corruption.

The rankings and scores of all 180 countries on Transparency International’s CPI can be viewed on its website.