Corruption Perception Index - CPI

Walk down the street in Toronto, Canada, and a police officer won’t shake you down. In Russia or Mexico, however, you might need to carry extra cash, so you aren't hauled into jail on a trumped-up charge for being an American. This is our world. Our corrupt, corrupt world.

If you want a good measurement of how much corruption exists in one nation compared to another country, swing over to Transparency International, a global, non-governmental firm founded in Germany in 1993. The nonprofit publishes the Corruption Perception Index. This index ranks nations based on "their perceived levels of corruption." The group obtains data from private surveys and expert insights, and assigns a ranking to each country.

Transparency International defines corruption as “the misuse of public power for private benefit.” So...think about that crooked cop, or the public official diverting government monies into their account, or just the good old-fashioned jailing (or worse) of journalists and others interested in public accountability.

The index ranks 176 nations on a scale from 0 to 100, with zero being the most corrupt, and 100 being virtually clean from corruption. Scandinavian countries typically rank highest in freedom from corruption. Nations with authoritarian regimes (North Korea) or lack of formal, democratic governments (Somalia) rank lowest on the scale.