Transparency International said the average global score in its report was at its lowest level in more than a decade.

The anti-corruption watchdog warned in its latest report of worsening corruption in democracies around the world, with the United States falling to its lowest score, raising concerns about developments in the United States and the impact of funding cuts around the world.

Berlin-based Transparency International (TI) said on Tuesday that the global average score on its 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) on a scale of 0 to 100 has reached 42 points, the lowest level in more than a decade.

The organization’s index assigns a score between 0 (highly corrupt) and 100 (very clean) based on data reflecting assessments by experts and business executives.

U.S. President Donald Trump has upended domestic and foreign politics since returning to the White House early last year while increasing pressure on institutions from universities to the Federal Reserve, the U.S. central bank.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is Currently under investigation Approved by the Department of Justice (DOJ) after resisting pressure from Trump to lower interest rates.

TI expressed concern about the US’s “targeting of independent voices and undermining the independence of the judiciary”.

“The temporary freeze and weakening of FCPA enforcement signals a tolerance of corrupt business practices,” the report said.

U.S. ranking drops

The Trump administration’s cuts in overseas aid also “weakened global anti-corruption efforts,” the report said.

The U.S.’s CPI score has dropped to 64 from 65 in 2024, and the report noted that its “political climate has been deteriorating for more than a decade.” In the past 10 years, it has dropped by 10 percentage points.

The report also said that “the vast majority of countries have failed to control corruption,” with 122 of 180 countries scoring below 50.

However, 31 countries saw significant improvement in their scores, notably Estonia (76 points), Seychelles (68 points) and South Korea (63 points), the report said.

The report said the US case illustrates a trend of democracies’ “declining performance” in fighting corruption, a phenomenon also seen in the UK and France.

While these countries remain near the top of the index, “corruption risks have increased” due to weakening independent inspections, legislative gaps and weak enforcement.

“Democratic systems in some countries are also experiencing stress, including political polarization and the growing influence of private money on decision-making,” the report states.

Worst performing EU countries

The worst-performing countries in the EU are Bulgaria and Hungary, with scores of just 40 points.

The report states that Hungarian nationalist leader Viktor Orban, who has been in power since 2010, faces an uphill political struggle. Reelection in April”, “more than a decade of systematic erosion of the rule of law, civic space, and electoral integrity.”

“This allows impunity for funneling billions of dollars, including from EU funds, to crony groups through dirty public contracts and other methods,” the report said.

The highest-ranked country for the eighth consecutive year is Denmark, with a score of 89, followed by Finland and Singapore. At the bottom of the rankings are South Sudan and Somalia, with 9 points each, followed by Venezuela.

One of the more positive stories in the report is Ukraine, with a score of 36.

President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government faces widespread public anger over accusations of corruption by close associates, even as the country has been at war with Russia for nearly four years.

However, the watchdog noted that “these and many other scandals that are being uncovered… show that Ukraine’s new anti-corruption architecture is working”.

It praised last year’s “civil society mobilization” that prompted Zelensky to change his mind and try to curb the independence of the anti-corruption body.