Pakistan recorded a marginal improvement in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2025, with its score rising to 28 from 27 a year earlier, according to the report released on Tuesday.
Despite the improvement in score, Pakistan’s global ranking slipped by one place, moving to 136 out of 182 countries and territories in 2025, compared to 135 out of 180 countries in 2024.
The CPI measures perceived levels of public-sector corruption based on assessments by experts and business executives. Scores range from zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
Transparency International noted that Pakistan has taken steps toward governance and institutional reforms, but stressed that sustained progress will depend on effective implementation of governance and anti-corruption reforms, including recommendations outlined in the IMF’s Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment.
Globally, the CPI 2025 highlights a worsening trend in corruption, with fewer countries achieving high scores. Only five countries scored above 80 this year. Denmark topped the index for the eighth consecutive year with a score of 89.
More than two-thirds of countries scored below 50. Countries at the bottom of the index, including Somalia and South Sudan, scored below 10.
The report also identified a decline in anti-corruption performance among several established democracies and warned that shrinking civic space, restrictions on media freedom, and pressure on independent institutions have contributed to weakening oversight in many countries.
Countries with strong, independent justice systems, free elections, transparent political financing, and protected civic freedoms consistently perform better on corruption control. Full democracies averaged a CPI score of 71, compared to 47 for flawed democracies and 32 for authoritarian regimes.
The report further noted that journalists investigating corruption remain at high risk in countries with low CPI scores. Pakistan was listed among the countries where reporting on corruption is particularly dangerous.
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