Everyone wants to trust their government, but according to Transparency International, not many people can. In 2018, the oversight group ranked 180 nations and territories by their levels of public sector corruption as perceived by business leaders and other experts. Two-thirds of the countries scored less than 50 on the Corruption Perceptions Index, out of a possible top trust score of 100. The group said the low scores revealed that unacceptable levels of corruption continue to plague government institutions all over the world. According to the report, the country with the most corruption was Somalia, which earned a score of 10. Syria and South Sudan each earned only 13 points, while Yemen and North Korea scored 14. At the other end of the spectrum was Denmark, with a score of 88, and New Zealand, with a score of 87. Finland, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland all scored 85. The United States earned 71, not making the top 20 least-corrupt nations for the first time since 2011.
Whom can you trust?:
- According to the Pew Research Group, Americans' trust in the government is at a historic low, with only 14 percent saying that the government does what's right "most of the time."
- Indonesian President Suharto ruled for 31 years and is believed to have embezzled between $15 billion and $35 billion USD.
- Denmark not only tops the government trust list, it also regularly tops lists of best places in the world to live.