More than six billion people live in countries that are corrupt, Transparency International said in a report on Wednesday.

More than two-thirds of countries received a poor corruption score in study released on Wednesday, leaving most of the world’s population living in a country characterised as corrupt.

The global average score of the Corruption Perceptions Index (CDI) 2017 by Transparency International was just 43 and 69 per cent of all countries scored less than 50, with 100 being the best possible score.

“This means over six billion people live in countries that are corrupt,” Transparency International said in a brochure accompanying the release of the report.

The report also said its findings are “disturbing” and that the majority of governments are moving “too slowly” on tackling corruption.

The analysis used factors such as freedom of the press, freedom of speech and the freedom of organisations to operate and influence public policy transparently.

The CDI then ranked 180 countries and territories from 1 to 100 based on perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople: A score of zero is “highly corrupt” and 100 is “very clean.”

No country got a perfect score but New Zealand tops the list as the “cleanest” country – meaning its citizens perceived little corruption, with a score of 89, followed by Denmark at 88.

Scandinavian countries enjoy high scores in the top 10 rankings.

Germany placed 12, behind Singapore but ahead of Australia, Iceland and the U.S.

Syria, South Sudan and Somalia scored the lowest.

Transparency International said their results show countries that have low civil liberties also tend to score high for corruption and that corruption is linked to “shrinking space for civil society.”

Countries that experience the worst corruption also have the least protection for press and non-governmental organisations, the group said. (dpa/NAN)

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