India continues to be one of the most corrupt nations in the world with many of its public institutions given to rampant misdeeds. Corruption is India's bane and threatens to derail its rapidly growing economy.
The country ranks a dismal 84th in a list of 180 countries, according to Transparency International's 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index, a measure of domestic and public sector corruption.
The corruption watchdog says that many African, East European and Latin American nations fare much better than India.
If it is any consolation, India actually climbed one spot up from 85th (it's 2008 rank) to 84th. India's integrity score this year is 3.4, down from 3.5 in 2007, says the survey. Its score in 2006 was 3.3.
According to the survey, the top three least corrupt countries are New Zealand, Denmark and Singapore with CPI scores of 9.4, 9.3 and 9.2 respectively. The most corrupt countries, according to the survey, are Somalia (CPI score 1.1), Afghanistan (1.3), Myanmar (1.4), Sudan and Iraq (both 1.5) in that order.
To view the CPI table and report visit:
http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2009/cpi_2009_table