Taiwan was 25th on last year’s Corruption Perceptions Index, its best ranking in 25 years, the Agency Against Corruption said in a statement yesterday.
Taiwan scored 67, the same as in 2023, but up three places from 28th among the 180 countries and regions evaluated by the index, which is published by Transparency International.
Taiwan was seventh among the 31 countries and regions in the Asia-Pacific region, behind Singapore (84), New Zealand (83), Australia (77), Hong Kong (74), Bhutan (72) and Japan (71), the agency said.
Photo: Tyrone Siu, Reuters
Taiwan’s score was higher than 86 percent of the countries and regions evaluated, the agency added.
The highest-ranked country was Denmark with a score of 90, followed by Finland (88), Singapore (84) and New Zealand (83), the report showed.
Luxembourg, Norway and Switzerland tied for fifth with scores of 81, it showed.
The global average was 43, it showed.
Transparency International’s office in Taiwan said that although Taiwan’s score was the same as in 2023, it rose in the rankings because Austria, France and the US dropped points.
However, Taiwan’s score in 2022 was 68, indicating that the fight for government integrity cannot rest on its laurels, the office said.
Taiwan was classified as a “complete democracy,” as well as having an “open” civil space, in which people can freely express their opinions and journalists can report without threat, it said.
However, the average score for complete democracies was 73, while countries with open civil spaces had an average score of 70, both of which Taiwan failed to achieve, posing a warning signal for the country, it said.
The index is compiled from a combination of at least three data sources from 13 corruption surveys and assessments, which are collected by reputable institutions, including the World Bank and the World Economic Forum, Transparency International’s Web site says.
Transparency International was established in 1993 and works globally to “stop corruption and promote transparency, accountability and integrity at all levels and across all sectors of society,” it says.
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