The index ranks 180 countries and territories on perceived public sector corruption with 0 meaning “highly corrupt” and 100 meaning “very clean”.
This time around, more than two-thirds of countries scored 50 or below which means they have serious problems preventing foul play in their public sectors. The average global score was 43.
Denmark came first with 88 out of 100 with Finland, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland following with 85.
Somalia was rock bottom of the index with a score of just 10, followed by Syria and South Sudan who both had 13.
Transparency International said that only 20 countries saw a significant improvement in their scores over the past seven years including Argentina, Guyana and the Ivory Coast.
During the same time frame, 16 countries recorded a significant decrease with Australia, Malta, Hungary and Turkey among their ranks. The U.S. had a disappointing score of 71 this year, four points down on 2017. That means it has dropped out of the top-20 countries for the first time since 2011.