“This is the first time that we’re seeing in recent history in the United States that people are perceiving the courts to be susceptible to the same undue influence that they’ve long seen Congress or the executive branch be vulnerable to,” said Scott Greytak, director of advocacy for Transparency International’s U.S. office. “It’s a dramatic shift.”
Denmark topped the latest Corruption Perceptions Index, ranking as least corrupt, with a score of 90 out of 100, followed by Finland, Singapore, New Zealand and Luxembourg. South Sudan fell to the bottom spot, with a score of 8. Somalia, Venezuela and Syria had scores under 13.
No simple survey, the index scores countries based on perceptions among experts and businesspeople of public-sector corruption, looking at bribery, diversion of public funds and effective prosecution of corruption cases, among other metrics. It uses data aggregated from 13 external sources, including the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, private risk and consulting companies, and think tanks.
The U.S. ranking drop came alongside a shift in public perception of the judicial branch, specifically the Supreme Court, the group noted, after Justice Clarence Thomas faced scrutiny for accepting lavish gifts from a billionaire, among other controversies. Under pressure, the court adopted an ethics code in 2023, but questions remain about the lack of objective enforcement mechanisms, a concern Transparency International raised in a summary of its findings for 2024.
A Gallup survey last year found that Americans’ confidence in their judicial system had dropped 24 percentage points since 2020 to a record low of 35 percent — among the steepest declines the organization has ever measured globally on this metric. The statistic sets the United States far apart from other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, which saw a median of 55 percent confidence in courts.
The United States is far from the only nation, up and down the index, to see a rise in perceived corruption because of concerns over courts.
Rights groups have raised alarm bells about the erosion of judicial independence in countries including Tunisia, where President Kais Saied gave himself power to unilaterally dismiss judges; in Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has remade the constitution and increased his influence over the courts; and in Turkey, where the judiciary has been weaponized to target government opponents. “None of this is in isolation. The final bulwark against authoritarians growing their power is the legal system, it is the rule of law,” said Greytak.
“Civil society, the media — there are other checks on government power and corruption, but none is as consequential, for good or for bad, as the court system,” he said.
In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 15 of 19 countries in the region have stagnated or declined on the index, a trend influenced by weak democratic institutions and rule of law made worse by ongoing instability, Transparency International said.
Top-scoring countries benefit from metrics indicating strong rule of law, effective government institutions and political stability. Still, even in those countries, loopholes enabling corruption remain in the private sector, which the group’s survey did not assess.
“Nations hosting major financial centres are vulnerable to corrupt financial flows,” Transparency International noted. “While their strong institutions give the appearance of integrity, their financial sectors and regulatory frameworks often provide opportunities to exploit loopholes, ultimately undermining global anti-corruption efforts.”
This year, 47 countries got their lowest-ever score, including Brazil, Germany, Mexico, Russia, Iran and Venezuela.
Since 2012, when the index took its current form, 32 countries have significantly reduced their corruption levels, while 148 have stayed stagnant or have gotten worse.
Since 2020, Russia dropped eight points to a score of 22, and Belarus dropped 14 points to 33. Autocratic regimes allow corruption to run rampant in part by dismantling checks and balances and engaging in kleptocracy, Transparency International said. Russia in particular uses state-controlled energy companies that “stay above the law.”
Ukraine gained eight points to a score of 35 since 2015, following the ouster of strongman president Viktor Yanukovych. Since the Russian invasion in 2022, with flows of military aid on the line, the country has stepped up anti-corruption efforts at the urging of Western backers, who have said Ukraine needs to go further still.
