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Are certain regions or countries more prone to political corruption than others?

Lesley Tiffany

Well, it's hard to say definitively which regions or countries are more prone to political corruption than others, but there are definitely some patterns that emerge when you look at the data. For example, if we look at the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) produced by Transparency International, we can see that some countries consistently score much lower than others when it comes to perceived levels of corruption.

One region that tends to have lower scores on the CPI is Sub-Saharan Africa. According to the 2019 index, every country in Sub-Saharan Africa scored below 50 on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). The average score for the region was just 32, which is alarmingly low. Some of the countries with the lowest scores in the world are located in this region, including Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan.

Another region that sometimes struggles with corruption is Latin America and the Caribbean. Although there is a fair amount of variation within the region (with some countries scoring quite well), many of them have lower scores than you would expect based on their level of economic development. In the 2019 CPI, for example, Brazil scored just 35, while Mexico scored 29.

Of course, corruption is not just a problem in developing countries. Some developed nations also struggle with corruption, although the form it takes may be different. In the United States, for example, there are concerns about the influence of money in politics, with wealthy donors and corporations having undue influence over policy decisions. In fact, a 2018 poll found that 75% of Americans think that corruption is a problem in their country. Other developed countries, such as Japan and South Korea, have also had high-profile corruption scandals in recent years.

So, to sum up, certain regions or countries do seem to be more prone to political corruption than others, but it's important to recognize that this is a complex issue that can take many different forms. The CPI is just one way of measuring corruption, and it's possible that other measures would yield different results. Nonetheless, it's clear that corruption poses a significant challenge for many countries around the world, and it will take sustained effort (including transparency and accountability measures) to address it.