Integrity Talking Points

27 January 2016

New Zealand has slipped further on the Transparency International CPI totem pole.  The 2015 CPI published today ranked New Zealand as the 4^th  least corrupt public sector of the 168 surveyed.  That is the equal lowest New Zealand has been placed in the 21 years in which the CPI survey has been conducted – it was last there in 1997 – since when it has been among the top three.

New Zealand has vied always with the Scandinavian countries – alternating rankings with Denmark and Finland, and for several years, Iceland.  In 2013 Denmark and New Zealand were joint leaders.  The following year New Zealand’s assessment was unchanged but Denmark having gained an extra point pushed New Zealand into second.

In the 2015 CPI while  New Zealand uncharacteristically has dropped 3 points, and Denmark has dropped one point,  Finland and Sweden have each gained one point.  That has changed the pecking order. The Netherlands has gained 4 points to rank  5^th equal with Norway, ahead of Switzerland.  Placed next is Singapore – almost an honorary Scandinavian like New Zealand.  Iceland which was 4^th ten years ago is now in 13^th place, equal with Australi

 

CPI Scores              2015           2014       2013        2012

1	Denmark	91	92	91	90
2	Finland	90	89	89	90
3	Sweden	89	87	89	88
4	New Zealand	88	91	91	90
5	Netherlands	87	83	83	84
5	Norway	87	86	86	85
7	Switzerland	86	86	85	86
8	Singapore	85	84	86	87
9	Canada	83	81	81	84
10	Germany	81	79	78	79

 

The Chair of the  New Zealand Chapter of Transparency International has urged that steps are taken immediately to re-establish New Zealand’s exemplary reputation for a trusted public sector. She anticipates further downgrades in New Zealand’s scores if areas such as access to information and governance of the environment fail to keep pace with the trends in northern European countries.

NZ CPI  ranking

1995        1

1996        1

1997        4

1998        4

1999        3

2000        3

2001        3

2002        2=

2003        2=

2004        2

2005        2=

2006        1=

2007        1

2008        1

2009        1

2010        1

2011        1

2012        1

2013        1

2014        2

2015        4

 

www.transparency.org/cpi2015