India ranks 81st in global corruption index, Pakistan 117th

Berlin: A report released by Transparency International (TI) has placed India on the 81st spot on the Global Corruption Perception (GCP) Index 2017, in terms of graft and press freedom in the Asia-Pacific region.

India was ranked 79th on the Global Corruption Perception Index in 2017.

The GCP index ranks a total of 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption. 

The index uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean. India's score in the latest ranking is 40, which was the same in last year. 

In 2015, the score was 38.

"In some countries across the region (Asia Pacific), journalists, activists, Opposition leaders and even staff of law enforcement or watchdog agencies are threatened, and in the worst cases, even murdered," the TI said in a release.

"Philippines, India and the Maldives are among the worst regional offenders in this respect. These countries score high for corruption and have fewer press freedoms and a higher number of journalist deaths," it added.

The TI report stated that in the past six years, at least fifteen journalists, who were working on corruption stories in these countries were murdered.

Its observation was based on a report submitted by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

In the latest ranking, New Zealand and Denmark occupied the first two spots at the top of the index, with scores of 89 and 88 respectively.

On the other hand, Syria (178th), South Sudan (179th) and Somalia (180th) were ranked the lowest in the index, with scores of 14, 12 and nine.

Among other South Asian countries, Bhutan fared the best with a ranking of 26th.

Other countries include Pakistan (117th), Afghanistan (177th), Nepal (122th), Myanmar (130th), Bangladesh (143rd), the Maldives (112th) and Sri Lanka (91st).

China fared a bit better than India and was ranked 77th, with a score of 41.

(With ANI inputs)