10 Most Corrupt Countries In The World

Corruption is a worldwide problem, which even the richest and most influential countries are guilty of. Those people who want to combat corruption have been thinking of the solutions for years. Which countries are currently the most corrupt, and which are the causes of their downfall? Check out top 10 most corrupt countries in the world and find out why they gained such negative reputation.

What is corruption and how can people combat it?

According to the definition from the Oxford dictionary, corruption is the act where the person chooses the wrong way to follow, despite there being a right way. This is mostly stealing from the assets of the government, bribery, favouritism, and tribalism. This action destroys the everyday life of every country and its development since a lot of politicians and highly-ranked officials still practice these things.

To this day, there is still no clear way to beat corruption. Even though the battle with this unpleasant occurrence constantly continues, the high officials continue to set a bad example to the public, and people think that it is okay to bribe or steal. Even in the most developed countries, corruption still exists. All the countries of the world are guilty of corruption in one way or another. Despite the common belief that only the poorest and smallest countries are engaged in corruption, it also exists in more developed countries of the world.

However, today we will show you the top 10 most corrupt countries in the world 2018, where corruption has reached the highest levels, and it influences the everyday life of the country in a harmful way. If you were always interested in what the most corrupt countries in the world are, you should check out the world corruption ranking.

Our ranking is based on the information provided by Transparency International report. It publishes its own ranking of the most corrupt countries every year since 1995. The latest corruption rating was created in 2017.

Each ranking is shortly called CPI (the Corruption Perceptions Index). The scale is from 0 to 100. The higher this number is, the more open and clean the country is. Countries with the lowest CPI are believed to be the most corrupted. The list of countries in the CPI 2017 report includes 180 territories. Unfortunately, many states have an extremely low ranking, and the top 10 countries with the lowest indexes are listed in our post as the most corrupted in the world now.

Read about the most corrupted country in the world and the reasons why they have reached such a difficult state.

Which country is the most corrupt country in the world?

10. Equatorial Guinea - CPI 17

In Equatorial Guinea, the level of corruption is very high. Usually, in the media, this country is described to be a perfect kleptocracy, which means that the country's leaders exploit the natural resources, citizens and government funds to extend their own wealth. The rulers seem to be indifferent to the problems of people. The other phenomena in Equatorial Guinea are nepotism and bribery, as well as political scandals and electoral frauds.

What makes Equatorial Guinea's situation even worse is that the country gets a lot of revenues from their natural resources, like oil. This means that the nation is very rich, only all the riches are concentrated among the wealthy and influential minority, with the citizens suffering from hunger and poverty. So, while the GDP of the country is similar to the developed European countries like Italy and Spain, the level of life is worse than in Chad or Afghanistan.

9. Guinea-Bissau - CPI 17

This country is one of the most corrupt countries in Africa. It has always been in the ratings of the most corrupted states in the world. The reasons for a lot of corruption in Guinea-Bissau is that illegal substances trafficking is very common in this country, and it is basically a hub for this crime. There are a lot of Colombian people which sell the forbidden substances, and they are attracted to Guinea-Bissau because of its poverty, lack of means, and state collapse. Usually, the Colombian barons search for the most corrupt countries in the world as the perfect arena for selling their forbidden substances illegally.

There are a lot of problems with law and order in Guinea-Bissau too, so the citizens have trouble with turning to the police when they witness something illegal. The criminals are very rarely convicted of their crimes and put in jail, even those who committed a crime as serious as murder. The President of the country has a very wide range of powers, and this makes it much easier for him to use his power in the wrong ways.

8. North Korea - CPI 17

This is the country which is internationally known as a prison, due to the extremely strict rules and the totalitarian regime which keeps the citizens in fear and submission. There are bans on foreign media, like the western internet and social media networks.

The North Korean media admitted the corruption throughout the country, which includes not only bribery, but squandering money for private uses, selling land and resources, deviation of the materials, and other issues. In this country, even the basic human rights are not recognized.

7. Libya - CPI 17

In the African country of Libya, corruption is a great obstacle on the way to normalizing the economy and other sectors. The most affected sectors of the Libyan life are oil industry and public procurement. This country constantly suffers from bribery and favouritism in all the fields of life. The companies have trouble with the unfairness of their competition against the businesses owned by the state. The corrupt practices in Libya were very prominent when Gaddafi was the leader, and after the revolution, the general situation has only got worse.

6. Sudan - CPI 16

Considered to be one of the most corrupt countries in the world, Sudan struggles with substantial corruption. This country was also named by the Freedom House organization as one of the nations where the human rights are the most violated. In Sudan, there is one of the world’s most difficult environments for business, because corruption exists in a lot of sectors, including those with a high concentration of foreign investments.

5. Yemen - CPI 16

Yemen, the relatively not big country which is situated in the Gulf region, is also one of the countries from this area that are suffering from the constant problem of corruption. This country is also the poorest one in the Middle-Eastern region, with the usual issues being the high birth rate, malnutrition among children, and running out of the water and oil resources. The corruption in this country exists in the private and public spheres, and many people consider it to be the nationwide problem that runs the country. Corruption in Yemen happens not only in the political sector but also in the field of communications, energy, education and health. Because of this, the services are either inadequate to the situation, or simply nonexistent.

In December 2013, Jane Marriott, the ambassador to Yemen from Great Britain, spoke about the problems of this country. She said that the Yemen corruption completely undermines the country’s economy, as well as the nation’s security. She also added that such high rate of the institutionalized corruption has been really discouraging the means of innovation, progress, and development.

4. Afghanistan - CPI 15

The country in southern Asia that has more than 35 million residents is also one of the most corrupt world countries. Every year in Afghanistan, more than two billion dollars go missing. The opinion surveys which are written by Afghan people show that the majority of them want to combat corruption, which they consider one of the most serious problems in the state, along with unemployment and insecurity. The large part of citizens also feels very pessimistic about the future of the country and thinks that corruption is a major failure of the government. In Afghanistan, according to the western press, corruption is not just a problem – it is a part of a system.

One of the recent corruption-related scandals in Afghanistan was the Kabul Bank financial case, which involved people who were close to President Hamid Karzai. They were accused of spending the bank’s money for their own personal purposes and lavish lifestyles.

3. Syria - CPI 14

Here is one more country which has been suffering from corruption for a very long time. This country is ruled by president Bashar Al-Assad. This man has remained in power for many years already, and a lot of people who oppose his regime get hurt or killed. In general, Syria was ranked by the Global Peace Index as the most violent state in the world, because of the armed conflict which has been going on there. The war in Syria took the lives of more than 470,000 citizens and 5 million refugees, and 7.6 million people are forcefully displaced.

2. South Sudan - CPI 12

Here is another state which has been involved with a lot of corrupt businesses over the years, which includes the extreme cases of bribery, as well as dictatorship. In Sudan, corruption is most widespread in the government, though the other types of this phenomenon are also present. The elites of this nation have established a system of kleptocracy, which controls all the parts of the country's economy.

South Sudan citizens have to face difficult challenges every day, including the problems with finances, education, and various other spheres of life. There are a lot of scandals involving governmental officials, which accuse them of practising corruption and being behind the problems of the population. For instance, one of the major scandals in South Sudan was called "Dura Saga", when the government paid one million to feed struggling people with cereals in the expectation of famine, but they were never delivered, and nobody knew where the money went.

1. Somalia - CPI 9

The world’s most corrupt country according to the various ratings is Somalia, which is situated in the eastern part of Africa. Corruption is a national problem which concerns the citizens of the country because it is believed that the government is involved in financial crimes without any punishment. Even though there are a lot of measures against corruption, this country still remains the one that suffers from this problem the most of all in the world.