Every year, Forbes, a prominent American business magazine, publishes the results of a survey by Transparency International (TI) which examines the level of corruption in every nation in the world. This year, Iceland, along with Finland and New Zealand tied for first place as the least corrupt countries in the world.
The annual study uses a ten point scale to rank the corruption in countries. The survey collects data from specialists, leaders, business officials and human rights monitors who spend a significant amount of time in the country in question. A high score denotes a low level of corruption. Iceland scored 9.6 in this year’s survey.
Corruption, according to Forbes, is becoming an increasing problem. Last year there were 72 countries classified as ‘corrupt.’ This year that number is 74. “A few, most notably India, just managed to bootstrap themselves out of the truly corrupt group, while others, particularly Iran, dug themselves more firmly into that camp,” said the magazine.
While Iceland, Finland and New Zealand are in the lead, the survey found the most corrupt countries in the world to be Haiti (which scored 1.8), followed by Myanmar and Iraq. Of the 163 countries included in the survey this year, 119 received a score below 5.
While the world’s ten least corrupt countries has remained relatively stable over the past few years, some countries, like India, have made some changes. The United States saw its ranking slip this year, moving from the seventeenth least corrupt nation last year to 20th place this year.