AMMAN — Jordan was ranked as the fourth least corrupt country in the Arab region on the Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index for the year 2018, scoring one point better than last year with 49 out of 100.

The improvement in the Kingdom’s score was attributed to measures that went into effect last year, such as the automation of a number of government procedures, in addition to improvement in control over bribes and grants, Rasheed for Integrity and Transparency said in a statement on Tuesday, cited by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

The index measures the perceived level of corruption in the public sector based on eight indicators, including bribes, public money transfers, the exploitation of public position for private gain, nepotism, the rule of law and the government’s transparency.

The UAE scored best in the region, with a score of 70, followed by Qatar and Oman.

Globally, the index ranked the Kingdom as the 61st least corrupt, out of 183 countries.

Denmark was the best performing country in the world, with a score of 88 points, followed by New Zealand at 87 points, while Finland, Singapore and Switzerland ranked third, scoring 85 points.

The countries at the bottom of the list were all from Arab states, with Somalia ranked as the most corrupt in the world at 10 points, followed by Syria (13) and Yemen (14).