MOST of the world continues to fail in the fight against corruption, a damning new study says. 

Transparency International’s 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index, said today that 95 per cent of countries have made little or no progress in stemming the tide of corruption.

The study, which measures the perception of public-sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople, also found that governments hampered by corruption lack the capacity to protect the people while public discontent is more likely to turn into violence.

The association’s chairwoman Delia Ferreira Rubio said: “Corruption has made our world a more dangerous place. As governments have collectively failed to make progress against it, they fuel the current rise in violence and conflict and endanger people everywhere.

“The only way out is for states to do the hard work, rooting out corruption at all levels to ensure governments work for all people, not just an elite few.”

The report ranks 180 countries and territories on a scale from a “highly corrupt” (0) to a “very clean” (100). Denmark is seen as the least corrupt this year with 90 points because of strong democratic institutions and regard for human rights, the report said.

Somalia was at the bottom with 12 points.

Only eight countries improved last year, among them Ireland with 77 points, South Korea with 63, Armenia at 46 and Angola at 33.

The report said that in Yemen, which scored 16 points, where complaints of corruption helped spark civil war eight years ago, the collapse of the state has left two-thirds of the population without sufficient food in what has become one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.

Compiled since 1995, the index is calculated using 13 different data sources that provide perceptions of public-sector corruption from businesspeople and country experts.