Which 2 countries listed below have the least corruption?

The Corruption Perceptions Index ranks countries and territories based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be. A country or territory’s score indicates the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0 - 100, where 0 means that a country is perceived as highly corrupt and 100 means it is perceived as very clean. A country's rank indicates its position relative to the other countries and territories included in the index. This year's index includes 177 countries and territories.

Denmark (rated #1): Corruption score: 92

New Zealand (rates #2): Corruption score: 91

Denmark is known for demanding transparency within the government and increased corporate responsibility, Denmark is ranked the least corrupt country in the world.

Canada is ranked tenth, Belgium is ranked 15th and the United States is ranked 20th least corrupt country in the world.

More Info: www.infoplease.com

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50 Comments

David Tagg

Not surprising to me, I have relatives in Aarhus, Denmark and I'm well aware that it's a well run country. I expected the U.S. to be lower than 20th

llm

As long as people keep reelecting incumbents in Congress, it won't change.

Johnny Rock

I wonder how much we really know about corruption within the government?

Frank Rizzuto

Clearly they're not counting all the major political scandals in our history from Teapot Dome up to and including the war based on lies in Iraq. And the one thing that unifies those scandals is that they all happened under a teapublican administration. Clearly, they also didn't count the years Bonzo's co-star was in office because his regime had more indicted and/or convicted felons than any other administration ever.

Marian Spitzig

Oh, and shall I start in on the scandals in the Clinton Administration, or LBJ’s Admin, how about Kennedy ‘s, ... I can pick on each and every US admin, including Obama ‘s. Let’s keep politics out of here.

recordpete

Is it possible to give the US a negative number?

Sarah Hearn-vonFoerster

No surprise. I went to school in Denmark, and found it to be the most Democratic country in the world. It holds the world's largest 4th of July celebration each year, too.

( EIGHT**BALL)

I like this question about the least corrupt economies. Good question Jim Moser.

Marguerite LaHaye

I’d say the rank is fluid right now, given recent headlines in the USA and Canada.

Ian Swindale

Heaven knows where we are in South Africa but there is a lot of corruption and over 100 billions of Rand have been squirreled away by various individuals.

Howard Groopman

I was leaning toward Switzerland-Netherlands, but chose the right one.

earlepg

Unfortunately, I eliminated the US/Canada and UK/Australia immediately because they undoubtedly aren't competitive in this respect, then I enlisted the assistance of the double chance. First, I checked Switzerland/Netherlands, but got rejected in favor of Denmark/New Zealand. I really don't know how any of the final four fare in being lily-white, but I congratulate them in earning their places.

Karin Johansson

Calvin Taber, yes it is Paludan

Karin Johansson

Craig Bowden, No that is Ruzzia

Karin Johansson

Najmi Abbas, not so bad and not perfect

Karin Johansson

recordpete, yes very bad

Karin Johansson

Marian Spitzig, bye trumpanzee

Georgia Kemp

I figured Denmark would be good but not NZ

Christopher Walwin

Canada should be about 69th as it has the most corrupt government in the "Free world"

Najmi Abbas

What about Sweden & Norway?

iproff

David Tagg, as soon as I saw Canada with the US as a Canadian I knew we were in trouble.

Brian Reynolds

Countries with totalitarian regimes or military style governments with little or no respect for democracy are usually at or near the top of the corruption league table, especially the Asian countries.

Kimberly Kennedy

I can't imagine why it wasn't the U.S. LOL

Philip John Mcgrath

John McLardie, it's always difficult to know. I think us kiwis have very short memories, and things get easily swept under the mat.. we tend to either accept the word as true, or strongly disagree, but then just run with it anyway..unless the story changes.