Corruption Perception Index 2025: India’s Rank, Check Top and Bottom Performing Countries

Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2025: The Index is released by Transparency International. CPI 2025 shows that corruption remains a serious threat in every part of the world however there are limited signs of progress. 

The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) ranks 182 countries and territories worldwide by their perceived levels of public sector corruption. The results are given on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). 

• The global average dropped to 42, and 122 countries scored below 50, signalling widespread public sector corruption.

• Countries that curb civic space often lose control of corruption: 36 of the 50 biggest CPI decliners restricted freedoms, and over 90 per cent of journalists murdered for investigating corruption were in low-scoring countries.

• Transparency International calls on leaders to strengthen independent justice and oversight, make political finance transparent, protect media freedom and clamp down on cross-border flows of dirty money.

• Worrying trend of democracies seeing worsening perceived corruption from the United States (64), Canada (75) and New Zealand (81), to various parts of Europe, like the United Kingdom (70), France (66) and Sweden (80). Their scores decline due to opaque political financing and weakening checks and balances.

• Safety of Journalists: The report notes that over 90% of journalists murdered for investigating corruption were in low-scoring countries.

India’s Rank: India has experienced a slight upward trend in the 2025 rankings. 

• Current Rank 2025: 91st out of 182 countries.

• Previous Rank 2024: 96th.

• Current Score: 39 ( 1 point increase from 38 in 2024).

Note: Despite the improvement in rank, Transparency International still categorizes India among countries that are "dangerous for journalists" reporting on corruption, specifically citing risks from local mining and sand mafias.

Factors Influencing India's Performance: Digitalization, the expansion of e-governance and Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT) has helped reduce the role of middlemen in government services. However, there are persistent challenges such as bureaucratic opacity, weak whistleblower protection and inconsistent enforcement of anti-corruption laws remain significant hurdles.

Top Performing Countries: 

Top Bottom Countries: