Despite efforts of the new government, Italy ranked alongside Saudi Arabia and Rwanda and below Malta when it is about perceived corruption, according to the recently released annual index by Transparency International.
Italy used to be perceived as one of the most corrupt countries in Europe but the situation a bit improved in 2019, according to Transparency International. The latest edition of the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) shows things have in fact improved once again this year.
The annual report released on Thursday, the study ranks perceptions of official corruption levels around the world. In general, the CPI does not make any claims as to the actual level of corruption in a given country, but rather how much corruption people believe there is.
The CPI ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived (not actual) levels of public sector corruption, using a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
Italy’s corruption level: 53 of 180
According to the CPI 2019, Italians believe the two most corrupt institutions in the country are political parties and parliament itself. With a score of 53, Italy improved by two points since 2018 – continuing gradual and sustained twelve-point increase since 2012.
“We’re happy to see a further improvement but we sincerely hoped for something more,” stated Virginio Carnevali, president of Transparency International Italia.
According to the experts, the slowdown is due to several problems that Italy traditionally has had, without being able to solve them. Nowadays, the old sins like organized crime, conflicts of interest and lobbying are still the bright living examples of corruption.
The Transparency International report reiterates that a lack of regulation in some spheres of the social, economic and political life means there’s potential for trouble “where the public sector meets private” in Italy.
Italy once again comes in far behind its northern European neighbours in the corruption stakes. New Zealand, Denmark received 87 points, making the two countries the best placed on the list. Finland is 3rd on this year’s list.
Note: The index measures perceptions of corruption in relation to bribery and the management of public funds in the public sector. It does not relate to corruption in the private sector, including money laundering and tax fraud.
