Countries by Control of Corruption: Percentile Rank, Upper Bound of 90% Confidence Interval

Ranking 2023

Values shown in %.

Analysis

This metric reports the upper bound of the 90% confidence interval for each country's Control of Corruption percentile rank, as published by the World Bank under indicator code CC.PER.RNK.UPPER. The underlying data comes from the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI), which the source describes as 'a research dataset summarizing the views on the quality of governance provided by a large number of enterprise, citizen and expert survey respondents in industrial and developing countries,' where 'governance consists of the traditions and institutions by which authority in a country is exercised.' Values are expressed as percentages, where higher scores indicate better performance relative to all countries in the dataset. The 2023 dataset covers all 205 countries included here, representing 100% recency and 100% official data quality. No extreme outliers were detected using a 3-standard-deviation threshold, and average year-over-year change was 5.9%, well below the 50% volatility threshold.

The top of the ranking is dominated by Northern European nations. Denmark, Finland, and Norway all score 100%, followed closely by New Zealand, Singapore, Sweden, and Switzerland at 99.53% (Rank 4). The Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein share Rank 8 at 99.06%. Australia and Seychelles share Rank 11 at 98.11%, with Seychelles being a notable presence among African-affiliated nations so high in the ranking. Canada and Germany appear at Rank 13 with 96.70%, alongside several territories such as American Samoa, Bermuda, and Guam at the same value. Estonia and the United Kingdom share Rank 26 at 95.28%, reflecting strong scores across much of Northern and Western Europe.

The middle of the ranking shows considerable regional diversity. Rwanda scores 80.19% at Rank 58, the highest-placed sub-Saharan African mainland nation, while Botswana at the same rank also performs notably well for the region. Georgia scores 79.25% at Rank 67, placing it above several European Union member states. Hungary appears at Rank 92 with 60.85%, alongside China and Romania. Further down, India ranks 121st at 50.47% and Brazil ranks 130th at 47.17%. At the lower end, Somalia scores 6.13% at Rank 203, Venezuela scores 6.60% at Rank 202, and South Sudan sits last at Rank 205 with 1.89%. Several conflict-affected or heavily sanctioned states cluster near the bottom, including Yemen at 7.55% (Rank 201) and Syria at 6.13% (Rank 203).

As an upper-bound confidence interval measure rather than a point estimate, this metric reflects the maximum plausible percentile rank for each country within a 90% confidence range. Countries with fewer underlying data sources may show wider confidence intervals, which can inflate or deflate this upper-bound figure relative to their true governance position. The WGI aggregates survey and expert opinions rather than direct administrative data, meaning scores reflect perceptions of corruption rather than objectively measured incidence. Differences between countries with similar scores should be interpreted cautiously, particularly where confidence intervals overlap. Territories and small jurisdictions included in the dataset may have fewer respondents, affecting reliability. Year-over-year comparisons may also reflect changes in survey composition rather than actual governance shifts.

Methodology

Data is drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code CC.PER.RNK.UPPER, for the reference year 2023. This metric reports the upper bound of the 90% confidence interval for each country's Control of Corruption percentile rank. The source defines the Worldwide Governance Indicators as 'a research dataset summarizing the views on the quality of governance provided by a large number of enterprise, citizen and expert survey respondents in industrial and developing countries,' where 'governance consists of the traditions and institutions by which authority in a country is exercised.' The dataset covers 205 countries, all with data from within the last 7 years (100% recency). All datapoints are classified as official quality (100%). No extreme outliers were identified under a 3-standard-deviation threshold. The average year-over-year change across the dataset is 5.9%, against a 50% volatility threshold. Values range from 1.89% (South Sudan) to 100% (Denmark, Finland, Norway), a spread of approximately 5,200%. Units are expressed as percentages, where higher values indicate a better relative governance position.

Sources

• World Bank