The 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released by Transparency International reveals that persistent corruption is undermining health care systems and contributing to democratic backsliding amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Countries that perform well on the index invest more in health care, are better able to provide universal health coverage and are less likely to violate democratic norms and institutions or the rule of law.
The 2020 edition of the CPI ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, drawing on 13 expert assessments and surveys of business
executives. It uses a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
Denmark and New Zealand top the index, with 88 points. Syria, Somalia and South Sudan come last, with 14, 12 and 12 points, respectively.
Armenia’s 2020 CPI score is 49 and its standard error – 3.50. Compared to last year it
increased by 7 points and it is the second largest increase in the world after Maldives, whose CPI score inceased by 14 points compared to 2019 (from 29 to 43). For data used for the calculation of Armenia’s 2020 CPI see material “Corruption Perception Index 2020: Full Source Description”. Figure 1 presents Armenia’s CPI scores from 2012 to 2020.
In the 2020 CPI ranking table Armenia together with Jordan and Slovakia shares 60-62
places among 180 countries (in 2019 with CPI score equal to 42 it was sharing 77-79 places among 180 countires).
According to Transparency International’s regional division, Armenia, as before, is included in the Eastern Europe – Central Asia region. Table 1 shows the 2020 CPI ranking table for that region.
As it can be seen from the Table, Armenia is on the 2 nd place among 19 countries of the region (in 2019 it was on the 4 th place). In the region Armenia lags only behind Georgia, whose 2020 CPI score is 56 (45-47 th places in the world ranking).
As of Armenia’s neighbors, Armenia continues to be behind only from Georgia. Similar to 2019 is ahead of its three other neighbors - Turkey (86-91 st places in the world ranking), Azerbaijan (129-133 th places) and Iran (149-156 th places). Their 2020 CPI scores are 40, 30 and 25, respectively. Figure 2 presents the dynamics of Armenia’s and its neighbors’ CPI scores from 2012 to 2020.
All member countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) score worse, than Armenia. In particular, Belarus’ 2020 CPI score is 47 (63-66 th places), Russia’s – 30 (129-133 th places), Kyrgyzstan’s – 31 (124-128 th places) and Kazakhstan’s – 38 (94-101 st places). Figure 3 shows the dynamics of Armenia’s and other EEU member states CPI scores from 2012 to 2020.
Corruption is also pervasive in the procurement of medical supplies. Countries with higher corruption levels also tend to be the worst violators of rule of law and democratic institutions during the COVID-19 crisis.
The past year highlighted integrity challenges among even the highest-scoring countries, proving that no country is free of corruption. To reduce corruption and better respond to future crises, Transparency International recommends that all governments:
• Strengthen oversight institutions to ensure resources reach those most in need. Anti-
corruption authorities and oversight institutions must have sufficient funds, resources and independence to perform their duties.
• Ensure open and transparent contracting to combat wrongdoing, identify conflicts of
interest and ensure fair pricing.
• Defend democracy and promote civic space to create the enabling conditions to hold
governments accountable.
• Publish relevant data and guarantee access to information to ensure the public receives easy, accessible, timely and meaningful information.
February 02, 2021 at 15:30