Corruption in Pakistan declined last year, Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2016 report reveals.

Pakistan’s CPI score goes up by two points from 30 to 32 out of 100.

Pakistan’s rank improved by nine spots, to 116 out of 176 in the list of most corrupt countries in 2016 – from 117 among 168 countries in 2015.

For the first time since 1996 when the first CPI was released, Pakistan climbed up from the lowest one-third corrupt countries to the middle one-third countries in 2016.

Pakistan performed better than most of its South Asian counterparts, coming in second after China in reducing corruption.

Pakistan is better off than these comparison countries (see below):

Iran 131

Nepal 131

Russia 131

Nigeria 136

Bangladesh 145

Afghanistan 169

Pakistan is worse than these comparison countries (see below):

Egypt 108

Philippines 101

Thailand 101

Sri Lanka 95

Indonesia 90

India 79

China 79

Turkey 75

Saudi Arabia 62

Malaysia 55

Qatar 31

Israel 28

Bhutan 27

UAE 24

United States 18

Denmark with a score of 90 is the world’s cleanest country at rank 1.

Somalia with a score of 8 is the world’s most corrupt country at rank 176.

2016 - CPI

The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) scores 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, according to experts and business people.

Pakistan CPI rank and score over the years 2009-2016

Pakistan in 2016 | CPI rank: 116 | CPI score: 32

Pakistan in 2015 | CPI rank: 117 | CPI score: 30

Pakistan in 2014 | CPI rank: 126 | CPI score: 29

Pakistan in 2013 | CPI rank: 127 | CPI score: 28

Pakistan in 2012 | CPI rank: 139 | CPI score: 27

Pakistan in 2011 | CPI rank: 134 | CPI score: 25

Pakistan in 2010 | CPI rank: 143 | CPI score: 23

Pakistan in 2009 | CPI rank: 139 | CPI score: 24

Lower rank = Less corrupt | Higher score = Cleaner from corruption

This year’s Transparency International’s report answers some of the questions you always wanted to ask:

1. Is corruption in Pakistan increasing or declining?
2. Is the rest of the developing world any better than us?
3. Will the new political leaders riding a popular belief that corruption is the main hurdle in country’s development be any effective if they come into power?

According to Transparency International:

Let’s get straight to the point: No country gets close to a perfect score in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2016.

Over two-thirds of the 176 countries and territories in this year’s index fall below the midpoint of our scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

The global average score is a paltry 43, indicating endemic corruption in a country’s public sector. Top-scoring countries are far outnumbered by countries where citizens face the tangible impact of corruption on a daily basis.

Corruption and inequality: how populists mislead people

The interplay of corruption and inequality also feeds populism.

When traditional politicians fail to tackle corruption, people grow cynical. Increasingly, people are turning to populist leaders who promise to break the cycle of corruption and privilege.

Yet this is likely to exacerbate – rather than resolve – the tensions that fed the populist surge in the first place.