In a report published Thursday, the United States saw its lowest perceived corruption index score since 2012, and it trails far behind the least corrupt nations, Denmark and New Zealand.

Transparency International, a nonprofit, non-governmental organization founded in 1993, released its Corruption Perception Index for 2019 with the comment that “a staggering number of countries are showing little to no improvement in tackling corruption.”

That comment certainly applies to the United States, which posted a Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) score of 69 (out of a possible 100), down two points compared to the 2018 score and down from a high of 76 in 2015. Top scoring Denmark and New Zealand tied at the top with index scores of 87.

The CPI ranks 180 countries and territories by their “perceived levels of public sector corruption, according to experts and business people” surveyed by Transparency International.

The Americas region posted an average CPI score of 43 for the fourth consecutive time. Canada, the perennial leader, scored a 77, followed by Uruguay (71) and the United States (69). Venezuela (16), Haiti (18) and Nicaragua (22) placed at the bottom of the regional rankings.

Here is part of the report’s comment about the U.S. corruption score: “The US faces a wide range of challenges, from threats to its system of checks and balances and the ever-increasing influence of special interests in government, to the use of anonymous shell companies by criminals, corrupt individuals and even terrorists, to hide illicit activities.” The report also notes the impeachment of Donald Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. He recently joined 14 other leaders who had already been impeached.

The top-scoring region, with a CPI score of 66, was Western Europe and the European Union, with Denmark’s 87 as the best index score and Bulgaria’s 43 the worst. Also scoring better than the Americas was the Asia Pacific region, where New Zealand’s high score of 87 was offset by a low score of 16 for Afghanistan.

The CPI score for the Middle East and North Africa region was 39, led by the United Arab Emirates (71) while Syria (13) posted the lowest score. The Eastern Europe and Central Asia region posted an average score of 35, with Georgia posting the best score (56) and Turkmenistan the worst (19). Sub-Saharan Africa posted the lowest regional score of 32, with Seychelles the best with a score of 66 and Somalia the worst with a score of 9.

In the past eight years, 22 countries have improved their scores, with Greece and Guyana (up 12) improving the most. Those improvements are offset by 21 countries that have posted lower scores over the same period. Australia (down eight) and Canada and Nicaragua (down seven) slipped the most.

Transparency International’s research highlighted the relationship between politics, money and corruption: “Unregulated flows of big money in politics also make public policy vulnerable to undue influence. Countries with stronger enforcement of campaign finance regulations have lower levels of corruption, as measured by the CPI.”

More than half of the countries that have improved their index scores over the past eight years tightened enforcement of campaign finance regulations. Patricia Moreira, managing director of Transparency International said, “To have any chance of ending corruption and improving peoples’ lives, we must tackle the relationship between politics and big money. All citizens must be represented in decision-making.”

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