Transparency International has some warnings about global corruption in its latest world corruption index report. Here is a good description that was included in the report’s announcement:

This year’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) paints a grim picture of the state of corruption worldwide. While most countries have made little to no progress in tackling corruption in almost a decade, more than two-thirds of countries score below 50.

Our research shows corruption not only undermines the global health response to COVID-19, but also contributes to a continuing crisis of democracy.

Also, from the report:

The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople, uses a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

Like previous years, more than two-thirds of countries score below 50 on this year’s CPI, with an average score of just 43. The data shows that despite some progress, most countries still fail to tackle corruption effectively.

Read the full report here. Also see our section on World Democracy or our articles on Worldwide Corruption.