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 4th 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 5th equal with Norway, ahead of Switzerland. Placed next is Singapore – almost an honorary Scandinavian like New Zealand. Iceland which was 4th ten years ago is now in 13th 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