Definition: the corruption perceptions index measures to what extent a country’s public sector is perceived as corrupt on a scale of 0 (very corrupt) to 100 (corruption-free). It is a composite indicator based on questionnaires on and assessments of corruption by 13 different experts of which an average is calculated. The data come from Transparency International and are published by Eurostat.

Goal: the corruption perceptions index must increase, which means that corruption decreases.

The Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs adopted by the UN in 2015 include target 16.5: “Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all its forms”.

International comparison: the relation with the EU for this indicator over the 2012-2022 period is retained. The corruption perceptions index is higher in Belgium (ranked 18th out of 180 countries) than in the EU over the whole period. Yet over time, the difference narrowed, from 12 to nine points on a scale up to 100, due both to a slight decrease in the score for Belgium and an increase in the score for the EU. When Member States are divided into three groups, Belgium is part of the group that performs best in 2022. In that year, Denmark ranked first with 90 and Hungary last with 42.

UN indicator: the selected indicator does not correspond to any monitoring indicator for the SDGs but is related to target 16.5. The Transparency International indicator is an indicator used to monitor the evolution of corruption on a global scale.

Sources

• SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals: United Nations (2015), Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015, document A/RES/70/1.

• Indicators: United Nations (2017), Work of the Statistical Commission pertaining to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 6 July 2017, document A/RES/71/313.

• UN Sustainable Development: https://sdgs.un.org/ (consulted on 18/01/2023).

• UN Sustainable Development Goal indicators website: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/ (consulted on 18/01/2023).

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