Africa: Twelve Countries Rank in Top 75 on Anti-Corruption Index

Corruption dogs Nigeria's petroleum sector.
6 December 2012

Twelve African countries are ranked among the 75 least corrupt nations in the world, according to the 2012 index published Wednesday by Transparency International.

Published annually, the Corruption Perceptions Index draws upon a range of data sources to determine how corrupt countries' public sectors are perceived to be. On a scale from 100 (highly clean) to 0 (highly corrupt), two-thirds of all countries scored below 50. This year's survey includes 176 countries, down from 182 in 2011.

The top eight in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in 2012 also led the list in 2011, with approximately the same global rankings, ranging from 65 to 43. Liberia - at number 11 in sub-Sahara with a score of 41 - saw its global ranking rise 16 points – from number 91 last year to 75 in 2012.

Botswana, Cape Verde, Mauritius, Rwanda, Namibia, Ghana and Lesotho led the SSA rankings, along with South Africa, which dropped two places this year - to nine from seven. Gambia, which was ninth last year, dropped this year to 21 in SSA and 105 globally. Tunisia, which is grouped with Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries, is tied with Liberia at 75 on the global rankings.

Nigeria and Kenya both received the low ranking of 139, compared with 143 for Nigeria and 154 for Kenya in 2011. Cameroun, the Congo Republic (Brazzaville) and the Central African Republic are ranked 144. Angola is 157, DR Congo 160 and Equatorial Guinea 163. Crowding the bottom among the most corrupt in the world are Chad (163), Sudan (173 and Somalia (174 - last).

Below are rankings (SSA/Global) and scores for all SSA countries in the index.

1/30 Botswana    65
2/39 Cape Verde    60
3/43 Mauritius    57
4/50 Rwanda    53
5/51 Seychelles    52
6/58 Namibia    48
7/64 Ghana    45
7/64 Lesotho    45
9/69 South Africa    43
10/72 Sao Tome and Principe    42
11/75 Liberia    41
12/83 Burkina Faso    38
13/88 Malawi    37
13/88 Swaziland    37
13/88 Zambia    37
16/94 Benin    36
16/94 Djibouti    36
16/94 Senegal    36
19/102 Gabon    35
19/102 Tanzania    35
21/105 Gambia    34
21/105 Mali    34
23/113 Ethiopia    33
23/113 Niger    33
25/118 Madagascar    32
26/123 Mauritania    31
126/23 Mozambique    31
26/123 Sierra Leone    31
29/128 Togo    30
30/130 Côte d´Ivoire    29
30/130 Uganda    29
32/133 Comoros    28
33/139 Kenya    27
33/139 Nigeria    27
35/144 Cameroon    26
35/144 Central African Republic    26
35/144 Congo Republic    26
38/150 Eritrea    25
38/150 Guinea-Bissau    25
40/154 Guinea    24
41/157 Angola    22
42/160 Democratic Republic of the Congo    21
43/163 Equatorial Guinea    20
43/163 Zimbabwe    20
45/165 Burundi    19
45/165 Chad    19
47/173 Sudan    13
48/174 Somalia    8

The full list is available here.

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