Where does India rank in corruption compared to the rest of the world? India moved up by five spots to 91st out of 182 countries in the latest Corruption Perception Index (CPI) from Transparency International.
India scored 39 out of 100 where higher scores mean a lower chance of corruption.
Denmark stayed at the top as the cleanest country in terms of corruption. Somalia on the other hand ranked at the very bottom of the most recent Corruption rankings.
CPI Ranking of Most and Least Corrupt Countries in the World
Transparency International looks at public sector corruption across 182 countries using 13 different surveys and reports.
Most countries still score below 50 which indicates that corruption remains a widespread issue globally.
This is how the latest corruption index and its CPI score from 2025 are read.
Country CPI Score Global Rank Status Denmark 89 1 Least Corrupt Finland 88 2 Top 5 Cleanest Singapore 84 3 Top 5 Cleanest New Zealand / Norway 81 4 (tied) Top 5 Cleanest India 39 91 Middle Rank Yemen / Libya 13 177 (tied) Highly Corrupt Venezuela 10 180 Top 5 Most Corrupt Somalia / South Sudan 9 181 (tied) Most Corrupt Corruption Rankings of India in Last 10 Years
India recorded its best relative rank of 35th out of 41 participating countries in 1995 and its lowest position was 96th out of 180 countries in the 2024 index.
But the CPI score has remained steady between 38 and 41 points over the last 10 years. Only the rank moves up or down depending on how other nations perform.
CPI Edition / Year India Rank
CPI Score
(out of 100)
Total Countries Ranked 2025 91 39 182 2024 96 38 180 2023 93 39 180 2022 85 40 180 2021 85 40 180 2020 86 40 180 2019 80 41 180 2018 78 41 180 2017 81 40 180 2016 79 40 176
What drives India’s Corruption Ranking and Path Ahead?
India’s rise to 91st place in 2025 Corruption Perception Index comes mostly from putting government services online.
Online welfare payments and government tenders mean fewer people have to pay bribes to agents or middleman clerks just to get basic paperwork done.
At the same time India remains in the lower half of the global list.
Experts point out that slow court cases lack of protection for whistleblowers and unclear political funding keep the country from making bigger leaps.
First Published: Jul 22, 2026, 19:15 IST