“Extortion turns a wise person into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart.”
[Feb.03.2022] This year’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) reveals that corruption levels are at a worldwide standstill. The poorer countries tend to be more corrupt, and some advanced countries have also shown setbacks.
Transparency International (TI), an international non-governmental organisation headquartered in Berlin, Germany, announced on the 25th (local time) that the ‘2021 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) by country’, or the global average, remains unchanged for the tenth year in a row, at just 43 out of a possible 100 points.
A whopping 154 (86%) of 180 countries showed little change in their CPI indices. Corruption has not worsened in these countries over the past decade but has not improved either. TI said out of 180 countries, two-thirds of countries score below 50, indicating that they have serious corruption problems.
The tendency of the poorer countries to become more corrupt was still there.. With an average score of 33, Sub-Saharan Africa is the lowest-performing region on the CPI.
This is only half of the average CPI score (66 points) of Western European countries, where developed countries are concentrated.
Belarus, where anti-government protests took place in 2020 due to the controversial election of long-term president Alexander Lukashenka for a sixth consecutive term, scored 41 points out of the possible 100. It is also in the 82nd position, dropping six positions from the previous year. CPI scores continued to decline in the Philippines (33 points), where the murder of a human rights activist took place. Nicaragua (20 points) and Venezuela (14 points), were where media oppression controversies arose.
However, the economist pointed out that developed countries are thought to be partly accountable for corruption in poor countries. This is because companies in advanced countries that have entered under-developed countries often encourage corruption in the public sector by bribing them.
A separate report on corporate bribery by foreign officials released by TI last year pointed out that only a few countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Israel, have enacted anti-corruption laws to actively regulate such conduct.
In some developed countries, corruption is worsening. In the case of the United States, which dropped from 25th in 2020 to 27th in 2021, for the first time, the country has been pushed out of the top ‘transparent’ 25 countries.
Australia and Canada also saw their CPI scores drop by 4 and 3 points, respectively, from the previous year. The Economist pointed out that the countries where corruption has worsened the most were those that suppressed civil liberties and suppressed the press as an excuse controlling COVID-19.
Korea ranked 32nd out of 180 countries with 62 points in 2021. Korea’s CPI score rose for the fifth year in a row since it ranked 52nd with 53 points in 2016 (source: Yonhap News).
It is better to heed the rebuke of a wise person than to listen to the song of fools. Extortion turns a wise person into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart.(Ecclesiastes 7:5,7)
God, may You awaken the rulers of the poorer countries where corruption has not improved for ten years, and govern the advanced countries that have gone backward in CPI scores. May Your mercy and compassion be upon the oppressed that the gospel will be preached to them and the justice will rule over them. May You rebuke the leaders of the low scored countries that they shall not covet, but be transparent in ruling the nations by Your grace and wisdom.
Prayer 24·365
prayer@prayer24365.org
