Montenegro is the best-ranked Western Balkan country on the annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released today by Transparency International. It is followed by Kosovo, Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Kosovo and Albania improved their scores compared to last year’s edition, while North Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina declined.
According to CPI, a country’s score is the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0-100, where 0 means highly corrupt and 100 means very clean. The global average is 43, while the average in the European Union is 64.
Montenegro ranks 65th out of 180 countries. On a scale of 0-100, Montenegro scored 46 points, the same as last year.
Kosovo improved its score by three points from 41 to 44 and it is ranked 73rd in the world, second among the Western Balkan countries.
Albania improved its score the most among Western Balkan countries compared to 2023 when it scored 37 points out of 100. It now has 42 points and it is ranked 80th in the world.
North Macedonia, meanwhile, dropped two points compared to 2023, from 42 to 40, and it is now ranked 88th in the world.
Serbia dropped a point compared to 2023, from 36 to 35. It is ranked 105th out of 180 countries.
Finally, Bosnia and Herzegovina also dropped two points and fell from 35 to 33 on a scale from 0 to 100. It is ranked 114th in the world.
Each country’s score is a combination of at least 3 data sources drawn from 13 different corruption surveys and assessments. These data sources are collected by a variety of reputable institutions, including the World Bank and the World Economic Forum, CPI explains.
“The 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) shows that corruption is a dangerous problem in every part of the world, but change for the better is happening in many countries”, reads the statement accompanying this year’s Index.
While 32 countries have significantly reduced their corruption levels since 2012, there’s still a huge amount of work to be done – 148 countries have stayed stagnant or gotten worse during the same period, the statement adds.