Sri Lanka makes significant strides in global corruption index

Sri Lanka has recorded a notable improvement in its global standing on the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), released today (10) by Transparency International.

According to the data, Sri Lanka showed a positive trajectory over the past year moving up 14 places in the index, which ranks more than 180 countries and territories on perceived levels of public sector corruption. 

In the 2024 CPI, the country recorded a score of 32, placing it at 121st globally. However, the 2025 index show an increase in the score to 35, lifting Sri Lanka to 107th place in the global rankings.

This 14-place improvement suggests growing confidence in the country’s recent efforts to address public sector corruption while the three-point rise in Sri Lanka’s CPI score indicates a shift in how experts and business leaders perceive the integrity of the country’s public sector.

The CPI is measured on a scale from 0, which represents “highly corrupt,” to 100, which denotes “very clean.”

Despite the improvement, Sri Lanka’s current score of 35 remains below the global average of 43, indicating that significant challenges in governance and accountability persist.

The CPI is a composite index compiled using data from 13 external sources, including the World Bank and the World Economic Forum.

Over the past decade, Sri Lanka’s CPI score has remained relatively stable, with the lowest score of 36 recorded in 2016 and the highest score of 40 reported in 2012.

The index assesses various forms of public sector corruption, including bribery, diversion of public funds, the effectiveness of prosecution of corruption cases, the strength of legal frameworks, access to information, and protections for whistleblowers, journalists, and investigators.

For the eighth consecutive year, Denmark topped the index with a score of 89, closely followed by Finland (88) and Singapore (84), while countries such as South Sudan and Somalia ranked at the bottom, each scoring 9.