For the fourth year in a row, Denmark is the country in the world with the least amount of corruption in the public sector – well … tied for first.
In Transparency International’s annual report, Corruption Perceptions Index 2016 (here in English), Denmark ranked top alongside New Zealand with a score of 90.
“The Danes can be proud that we are once again number one,” said Ulla Tørnæs, the minister of development.
“This is a great strength of Danish society that we can use internationally in connection with our development work to show we have a zero-tolerance policy regarding corruption. We are pioneers, and that’s one of the key reasons why we will be hosting the world’s biggest anti-corruption conference next year.”
Wrong direction
Despite maintaining its top position in the rankings, Denmark’s overall score has dropped for the second year in a row from 91 last year and 92 the year before that.
One of the reasons, according to Transparency International, was a decrease in transparency regarding the declared assets of some politicians.
“Last year in Denmark, the top country on the index, 20 members of the Danish Parliament (11 percent of 179 members) did not declare their outside activities or financial interests in their asset declarations,” the report found.
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Nordic leaders
Following the Danes and Kiwis came Finland, Sweden and Switzerland, while Norway, Singapore, the Netherlands, Canada and Germany (tied with the UK and Luxembourg) made up the top 10.
Other notables included Australia (13), Iceland (14), the US (18), France (23), South Korea (52), Brazil, China and India (all 79), Mexico (123) and Russia (131).
Somalia finished at the bottom of the list, followed by South Sudan, North Korea, Syria and Yemen.
