Here’s the good news: Myanmar has risen slightly in an annual global ranking of countries by how corrupt they are.
And the bad: it’s still the world’s 20th most corrupt country.
For its 2015 Corruption Perception Index, Transparency International ranked nations on a scale of zero to 100 – the lower the score, the cleaner the country.
Myanmar scored 21. That’s on a par with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Chad and one place above Cambodia, the worst scoring Southeast Asian nation.
Somalia and North Korea bottomed out the list, while Denmark and Finland were ranked the cleanest countries.
Myanmar came 147th out of 167 – the same placement as last year – but the score awarded represents a slight victory given that the country only managed 22 last year and 2014 and a lowly 15 in 2013.
From the 1MBD scandal in Malaysia, whose prime minister was unable to account for $700 million in his personal bank account, to China’s prosecution spree, it was a crowded contest in the Asia Pacific category this year.
“If there was one common challenge to unite the Asia Pacific region, it would be corruption,” the report reads. “From campaign pledges to media coverage to civil society forums, corruption dominates discussion. Yet despite all this talk, there’s little sign of action.”
