I suppose some of the accuracy of this depends upon your view of who holds real power within a country. Personally, I raise an eyebrow at the high position of Switzerland, given their record in banking. Also, in reality, this is nothing more that an illustration of what we know about humanity: it is inherently greedy and selfish. And as has been put by a greater man than me, 'power corrupts'. Put people into power (not just governmental) and, no matter how contrary to decency and good sense, they will contrive to enrich themselves.
Bob Stuart
The rating for Canada must have been set before the latest round of broken promises. All I see is plutocracy everywhere, shutting out the rare honest candidates from town council on up.
Bob
Since an independent candidate is excluded almost everywhere, I am surprised that any country scored as high as it did.
KungfuSteve
Heh, These studies are corrupt! lol USA should be among the most corrupt out there. Im pretty sure that everyone know this as fact. Except you dont just get scrooged from your govt... you also get it from every nearly every single industry, business, and service provider.
Crazy
These statistics are so wrong it's unbelievable.
First off, every person on earth lives under corruption. there are no legitimate governments, and their are no citizens of any country. Every country including the USA has an unwritten policy of do as we say, pay us or go to jail, or get shot. The starting point of this article is that governments are legitimate, which is wrong. Look up the definition of a citizen in blacks law dictionary, then look up the supreme court rulings on the definition. Once that is done, look up the reciprocal obligations of government and you will find that they're are none. If no citizens exist, then there is no body politic, and if there is no body politic, there is no legitimate government. If you are forced to interact with those who claim to be government, then you live under some form of oppression. This means that you live under corruption from those who believe they have a legitimate right to order you, control you and tell you what to do. If you don't believe me then defy them and see who shows up at your door? Name three things you can do in your country that are not Fee'd, regulated, or taxed? No one has ever gotten past two in the US. What sane person would ever vote for someone to be their leader or ruler? The most dangerous superstition is the belief in authority. DO YOUR RESEARCH.
Bob Flint
FAKE NEWS....IT'S 100%
chase
At least the writer recognized the European countries including the US were being portrayed less corrupt than they actually are. By a long shot I might add.
Democracy, Capitalism, etc are highly susceptible and lend themselves to corruption in the same way Power attracts corruption.
Corruption itself stems from many things. Fear, Greed, Desire, Arrogance and so on. While corruption may leave some impoverished, it also leaves others wealthy.
For there to be corruption, first there must be a want on one hand, and willingness to fulfill in the other. Of course that's simply stating the obvious.
Government officials, at least in the USA, acquired their positions and good them only because others in power want something from them and they are willing to give it to them. Hence the saying Democracy lends itself to corruption.
I'd have to disagree about what the other poster said about Sweden. Their banking policies make them one of the more trusted as far as a financial holding institution goes. It's not just the corrupt that hold their monies in Sweden. They're trusted because of their security and unbiased manor of discretion and right to privacy. At least it used to be or so I've heard from those that bank there. It's one of the safest places to put liquid holdings is the word. Just because they thumb their nose up at the US by refusing to disclose amounts or freeze accounts doesn't make them corrupt. It makes them honorable. If they were to bend and comply at requests that go against honoring their policy of privacy and security. Then that is corruption at play. IMO anyway...
StWils
The missing or incomplete element here is the exact correlation between these kinds of studies and world wide income distribution. As the world's income is concentrated in a persistently smaller group of individuals all of societies problems increase. There is both a compounding-interest effect of concentrating wealth for the top less-than-1/10% and a parallel compounding-interest effect of injury, harm & decline for the bottom 80% of the world's population. And as we all know, here in the U.S. a stunningly uninformed, clueless, information resistant group of voters just elected a dangerous unstable buffoon as the talking hood ornament for an onrushing train.
DaffRichards
This is so fake. First rule of ranking Corruption is "follow the money". Places like the US, Canada, Scandinavia and Europe have it, Somalia and Afghanistan does not. Bribing an official with a $5 pack of cigarettes to get what you want is not corruption. Exhibit A, the 2008 financial liquidity and mortgage crisis bailout. How many crooked bankers, politicians and traders went to prison? ZERO!
ljaques
I, too, am surprised the corruption number is only 85%. But, all we can do is keep on trying to make it better around us. ACTION is the key to success. Good luck!