What does Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index really mean?
Every year, since 1995, the Corruption Perception Index, by Transparency International, has been developed and shared worldwide. The anti-corruption community, mainly governments, donors and implementers of donor projects, wait for it with great interest. This year is no different and it is grimmer than it’s been over the past few years. During this very difficult time they note that:
“Western Europe’s ability to combat corruption is falling dangerously short, hindering the bloc’s ability to protect rule of law, invest in strained public services and fight the climate crisis, according to the 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released today by Transparency International. The regional average has declined for the second year running to 64 out of 100.”
But what does this really mean? Generally, serious anti-corruption practitioners understand that this does not mean that corruption has increased. The key word in the index is “perception”. And year after year, my colleagues and I try to educate and explain this. Let’s take Ukraine – this has been a moving target since the green men came to Ukraine and Maidan occurred. There was greater reporting on all of these topics, more freedom, and more interest. And much more donor support for explaining and highlighting corruption and more support to Ukraine’s anti-corruption bodies. How has this affected the perception of corruption? Perceptions increase since so much information is being stirred but does this mean corruption itself increases. This is the crux of the matter and in many ways it is decreasing as corruption is acted upon. And so, in some cases, this does lead to the odd situation where there is genuine movement in prevention and enforcement, while people perceive it to be increasing. What this all means is that the CPI provides information about perception, which is very important but is not a good tool for addressing the real situation regarding corruption.
What should we do? What has been done in countries like Ukraine is they try to have more targeted surveys addressing specific corruption targets and help educate government, donors and CSOs what the CPI really means. Of course, we should also work with TI to make certain that we help improve the quality of information and how to use it effectively.
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