TRINIDAD and Tobago is ranked 77th of 180 countries in the 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index with an overall score of 42 points – one point more than the previous year.
This was revealed by Transparency International, which published its annual list on Tuesday morning.
The index ranks countries from zero-100, with 100 being "very clean" and zero being "highly corrupt."
For 2022, Denmark earned a score of 90 and was ranked first, while Somalia got 12 points and was ranked 180th.
When it comes to Caribbean countries, Barbados scored 65 points, the Bahamas got 64 points, St Vincent and the Grenadines got 60 points, St Lucia and Dominica got 55 points, Grenada earned 52 points, Jamaica got 44 points, Guyana and Suriname have 40 points, and the Dominican Republic got 32 points.
Transparency International said most countries are failing to stop corruption, with the global average remaining 43 for over a decade.
"Corruption undermines governments' ability to protect people and erodes public trust, provoking more and harder to control security threats. On the other hand, conflict creates opportunities for corruption and subverts governments' efforts to stop it," it says on its website.
"Even countries with high CPI scores play a role in the threats that corruption poses to global security. For decades, they have welcomed dirty money from abroad, allowing kleptocrats to increase their wealth, power and destructive geopolitical ambitions."
TT's worst score within the last decade was in 2016 when it earned 35 points.
The TT Transparency Institute held a virtual launch of the 2022 figures on Tuesday morning. It was themed Corruption, Conflict and Security.
Speaking at the launch, president of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Adrian Saunders said if issues related to these topic remain unresolved in the region, "it will certainly stymie our progress in the realisation of our aspirations (and) goals..."
He said these figures "provide a snapshot of just where states are in the fight against corruption.
"There is still much much more to be done to combat the scrutiny of corruption."
He said TT's score is "not (one) of which we can be proud."
In all its forms, he said, corruption undermines the rule of law and impedes economic and social development.