Israel slips to 35th place in corruption index amid ‘worrying’ trend in democracies |
Israel on Thursday slipped five places to on an annual barometer of perceived corruption worldwide, ranking 35th, as the anti-graft watchdog Transparency International (TI) warned of worsening corruption in democracies more broadly.
Berlin-based TI said the average global score had hit its worst level in more than a decade, with the United States sliding to its lowest-ever score on the group’s 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index, coming in 29th. Only five countries scored above 80 in the 2025 report, down from 12 a decade ago.
The top spot was given to Denmark, with 89 points out of 100, followed by Finland and Singapore. At the bottom were South Sudan and Somalia with nine points apiece, just below Venezuela. with 10. The leading trio was unchanged, and the last three also stayed the same, although South Sudan gained a point to draw level with Somalia.
Israel had a score of 62. Last year, it was ranked 30th with a score of 64. Its lowest score was in 2021, with 59.
The organization measures experts’ perception of public-sector corruption around the world according to 13 data sources, including the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, and private risk and consulting companies.
This year’s report lamented that “too often, we are seeing a failure of good governance and accountable leadership.”
It also pointed to “a worrying trend of democracies seeing worsening........