How endemic is corruption around the world - and where does it flourish?

Transparency International's 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is the world's most credible measure of of domestic, public sector corruption.

Figures released today show that public corruption in Afghanistan has worsened over the past two years and is now more rampant than in any country apart from Somalia. Afghanistan has sunk for the second straight year in this ranking of 180 nations based on perceived levels of corruption in the public sector.

The CPI scores countries on a scale of zero to 10, with zero indicating high levels of corruption and 10, low levels. That ranking is based on data from country experts and business leaders at 10 independent institutions, including the World Bank, Economist Intelligence Unit and World Economic Forum.

Countries which saw their ranking drop included Iran, which fell to 1.8 from 2.3 following the presidential election in June. Political turmoil also contributed to a fall in Ukraine's score to 2.2 from 2.5. Greece saw its score slide to 3.8 from 4.7, reflecting insufficient 'anti-corruption enforcement', lengthy delays in the judicial process and a string of corporate scandals that TI said pointed to "systemic weaknesses".

Fragile, unstable states that are scarred by war and ongoing conflict linger at the bottom of the index. Meanwhile, the highest scorers in the 2009 CPI are New Zealand, Denmark, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland.

But the vast majority of countries in the 2009 index scored below five.

The full data is below and we've added in last year's rankings too. Take a look and let us know what you can do with it. Also check out TI's interactive map too.



• DATA: download the full dataset, including ISO country codes

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