Transparency International: Top 20 Most (And Least) Corrupt Countries in Africa, 2018

Seychelles and Botswana are perceived as the least corrupt countries in Africa, ranking consistently high among international financial transparency, while the most perceived corrupt country in Africa is Somalia.

See most up to date ranking below

Top 20 Most (and Least) Corrupt Countries in Africa, 2023

Transparency International recently released its annual corruption index “Corruption Perception Index 2018”.

The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople, uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean. More than two-thirds of countries score below 50 on this year’s CPI, with an average score of just 43.

This year’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) presents a largely gloomy picture for Africa – only eight of 49 countries score more than 43 out of 100 on the index. Despite commitments from African leaders in declaring 2018 as the African Year of Anti-Corruption, this has yet to translate into concrete progress, Listwand reports.

Africa

Seychelles scores 66 out of 100, to put it at the top of the region. Seychelles is followed by Botswana and Cabo Verde, with scores of 61 and 57 respectively.

At the very bottom of the index for the seventh year in a row, Somalia scores 10 points, followed by South Sudan (13) to round out the lowest scores in the region.

With an average score of just 32, Sub-Saharan Africa is the lowest scoring region on the index, followed closely by Eastern Europe and Central Asia, with an average score of 35.

The Sub Saharan region remains a region of stark political and socio-economic contrasts and many longstanding challenges. Listwand reports that While a large number of countries have adopted democratic principles of governance, several are still governed by authoritarian and semi-authoritarian leaders. Autocratic regimes, civil strife, weak institutions and unresponsive political systems continue to undermine anti-corruption efforts.

Countries like Seychelles and Botswana, which score higher on the CPI than other countries in the region, have a few attributes in common. Both have relatively well-functioning democratic and governance systems, which help contribute to their scores. However, these countries are the exception rather than the norm in a region where most democratic principles are at risk and corruption is high.

Notwithstanding Sub-Saharan Africa’s overall poor performance, there are a few countries that push back against corruption, and with notable progress.

Decliners

In the last few years, several countries experienced sharp declines in their CPI scores, including Burundi, Congo, Mozambique, Liberia and Ghana.

In the last seven years, Mozambique dropped 8 points, moving from 31 in 2012 to 23 in 2018. An increase in abductions and attacks on political analysts and investigative journalists creates a culture of fear, which is detrimental to fighting corruption.

Home to one of Africa’s biggest corruption scandals, Mozambique recently faced indictments of several of its former government officials by US officials. Former finance minister and Credit Suisse banker, Manuel Chang, is charged with concealing more than US$2 billion dollars of hidden loans and bribes.

Many low performing countries have several commonalties, including few political rights, limited press freedoms and a weak rule of law. In these countries, laws often go unenforced and institutions are poorly resourced with little ability to handle corruption complaints. In addition, internal conflict and unstable governance structures contribute to high rates of corruption.

See Current Ranking – Top 20 Most (and Least) Corrupt Countries in Africa, 2020

Top 20 Most Corrupt Countries in Africa, 2018/2019

World Rank – Country – CPI Score (100)

180. Somalia – 10
178. South Sudan – 13
172. Sudan – 16
172. Guinea Bissau – 16
172. Equatorial Guinea – 16
170. Libya – 17
170. Burundi – 17
165. Congo – 19
165. Chad – 19
165. Angola – 19
161. DR Congo – 20
160. Zimbabwe – 22
158. Mozambique – 23
167. Eritrea – 24
152. Madagascar – 25
152. Cameroon – 25
149. Uganda – 26
149. Central African Rep – 26
144. Nigeria – 27
144. Mauritania – 27
144. Kenya – 27
144. Comoros – 27
138. Guinea – 28
129. Togo – 30
129. Sierra Leone – 30
124. Gabon – 31
124. Djibouti – 31
128. Mali – 32
120. Malawi – 32
120. Liberia – 32
114. Niger – 34
114. Ethiopia – 34
105. Zambia – 35

Improvers

Two countries – Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal – are, for the second year in a row, among the significant improvers on the CPI. In the last six years, Côte d’Ivoire moved from 27 points in 2013 to 35 points in 2018, while Senegal moved from 36 points in 2012 to 45 points in 2018. These gains may be attributed to the positive consequences of legal, policy and institutional reforms undertaken in both countries as well as political will in the fight against corruption demonstrated by their respective leaders.

With a score of 37, Gambia improved seven points since last year, while Seychelles improved six points, with a score of 66. Eritrea also gained four points, scoring 24 in 2018. In Gambia and Eritrea, political commitment combined with laws, institutions and implementation help with controlling corruption.

Top 20 Least Corrupt Countries in Africa, 2019

Rank – Country – CPI Score

28. Seychelles – 66
34. Botswana – 61
45. Cabo Verde – 57
48. Rwanda – 56
52. Namibia – 53
56. Mauritius – 51
64. Sao Tome and Principe- 46
67. Senegal – 45
73. Morocco – 43
73. South Africa – 43
73. Tunisia – 43
78. Burkina Faso – 41
78. Ghana – 41
78. Lesotho – 41
85. Benin – 40
89. Swaziland – 38
93. Gambia – 37
99. Tanzania – 36
105. Algeria – 35
105. Cote d’ivoire – 35

Methodology

Since its inception in 1995, the Corruption Perceptions Index, Transparency International’s flagship research product, has become the leading global indicator of public sector corruption. The index offers an annual snapshot of the relative degree of corruption by ranking countries and territories from all over the globe. In 2012, Transparency International revised the methodology used to construct the index to allow for comparison of scores from one year to the next. The 2018 CPI draws on 13 surveys and expert assessments to measure public sector corruption in 180 countries and territories, giving each a score from zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

The Index aggregates data from a number of different sources that provide perceptions by business people and country experts of the level of corruption in the public sector.