Nigeria Is Not Prominent In 2014 Corruption Perception Index

Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index 2014 ranks countries based on a 100-point "corruption perception" scale, where zero equals a "highly corrupt" perception and 100 means the country is perceived to be very clean.

In the report, North Korea and Somalia rank equal-worst of 174 countries with a score of just eight. Denmark and New Zealand ranked least corrupt, with scores of 92 and 91, respectively.

The Corruption Perceptions Index highlights the problems that emerging economies have with public sector corruption, misappropriation of funds and bribery, said Jose Ugaz, the chair of Transparency International, in a press release. It's based on perceptions of public sector corruption, from the perspective of business people and country experts.

Transparency International says the extent of corruption within countries has an impact on their own economic growth, and there's a risk of problems being exported with trade and investment.

"The 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index shows that economic growth is undermined and efforts to stop corruption fade when leaders and high level officials abuse power to appropriate public funds for personal gain," Ugaz said in a statement.

"Corrupt officials smuggle ill-gotten assets into safe havens through offshore companies with absolute impunity.

"Countries at the bottom need to adopt radical anti-corruption measures in favour of their people. Countries at the top of the index should make sure they don't export corrupt practices to underdeveloped countries," Ugaz added.

Top countries and mark out of 100

1. Denmark (92)

2. New Zealand (91)

3. Finland (89)

4. Sweden (87)

5. Norway (86)

5. Switzerland (86)

7. Singapore (84)

8. Netherlands (83)

9. Luxembourg (82)

10. Canada (81)

Bottom countries and mark out of 100

174. Somalia (8 )

174. North Korea (8 )

173. Sudan (11)

172. Afghanistan (12)

171. South Sudan (15)

170. Iraq (16)

169. Turkmenistan (17)

166. Uzbekistan (18)

166. Eritrea (18)

161. Yemen (19)

Africa and Asia

In Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana was the bright spot, ranking 31st. Other states in the region ranked lower – Lesotho, Namibia, and Rwanda share 55th, while other African states were farther down the list. Nigeria was at 136th, along with Russia, Lebanon, and Kyrgyzstan. The Democratic Republic of Congo came in 154th, two positions ahead of Zimbabwe, at 156th.

Ivory Coast’s spot at 115th is a big move upward from last year, when it was 136th. Legislative changes and stronger enforcement are factors attributed to its improvement.