Jamaica slips one place in global corruption ranking

Jamaica has slipped one place on the 2021 Transparency International corruption ranking.

In the list released last night, Jamaica fell to 70th in 2021 from 69th out of 180 countries in 2020.

However, its corruption perception index (CPI) remained at 44, where 0 is considered highly corrupt and 100 is very clean. 

Jamaica also remained the fifth most corrupt country in the Caribbean behind Haiti, Dominican Republic, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Barbados was deemed the least corrupt country in the region with a score of 65 out of 100 and a ranking of 29th out of 180 countries.

SEE: Full list - 2021 Corruption Perception Index 

Transparency International said, two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 CPI revealed that corruption levels remain at a standstill worldwide. 

For the first time, the CPI offered a comprehensive look at a decade of corruption. 

“Overall, the CPI shows that control of corruption has stagnated or worsened in 86 percent of countries over the last decade,” a section of the report read. 

For the period 2012 to 2021, Jamaica's CPI ranged between 38 and 44.

During the past five years, Jamaica's CPI was consistently 44, with the exception of 2019 when it dipped to 43. 

Here's how assessed Caribbean countries appear in the ranking:​

The Bahamas 
Rank: 30th
Score: 64

Barbados
Rank: 30th
​Score: 64

St Vincent and the Grenadines
Rank: 39th 
​Score: 59

Dominica 
Rank: 45th
​Score: 55

St Lucia 
Rank: 42nd
​Score: 56

Grenada 
Rank: 52nd
​Score: 53

Cuba 
Rank: 64th
​Score: 46

Jamaica
Rank: 70th
​Score:​ 44

Guyana 
Rank: 87th
​Score: 39

Trinidad and Tobago
Rank: 82nd
​Score: 41

Dominican Republic
Rank: 128th
Score: 30

Haiti
Rank: 164th
​Score:​ 20

- Judana Murphy

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