Jamaica’s corruption perception score unchanged; still among countries with 'serious problems'

Jamaica has recorded no change on the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), maintaining a score of 44,to be among countries with significant problems with corruption, according to Transparency International. The score is two points above a "new low" global average of 42.

Transparency International released the 2025 index on Tuesday, showing Jamaica also unchanged at 73rd out of 182 countries in the global rankings.

The CPI, published by Transparency International, scores countries on a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 represents a highly corrupt public sector and 100 indicates a very clean one. A CPI score of below 50 usually means that a country has a serious corruption problem.

Jamaica's Integrity Commission previously reported that Jamaica's best CPI score is 44, which was first achieved in 2017, moving up from 39. The country has scored 44 since, except in 2019 when it slipped to 43.

TI said the 2025 CPI shows that "corruption remains a serious threat in every part of the world, although there are limited signs of progress."

"Leaders must act to tackle abuses of power and the wider factors driving this decline, such as the roll-back of democratic checks and balances, and attacks on independent civil society. Anti-government protests in many parts of the world show that people are fed up with unaccountable leadership and are demanding reform.

TI said while 31 countries have significantly reduced their corruption levels since 2012, the rest are failing to tackle the problem and have stayed stagnant or got worse during the same period.

The anti-corruption watchdog added that global average has fallen to a new low of 42, while more than two-thirds of countries score below 50. "And people are paying the price, as corruption leads to under-funded hospitals, unbuilt flood defences and blights the hopes and dreams of young people.

Within the Caribbean, Jamaica continues to trail several regional counterparts. Countries with higher scores include Barbados (68), The Bahamas (64), St Vincent and the Grenadines (63), Dominica (60), St Lucia (59) and Grenada (56).

Caribbean countries scoring lower than Jamaica include Trinidad and Tobago (41), Guyana (40) and Haiti (16).

Denmark is ranked number one followed by Finland.

Transparency International said each country’s score is a combination of at least three data sources drawn from 13 different corruption surveys and assessments. It said the data sources are collected by a variety of reputable institutions, including the World Bank and the World Economic Forum.

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