Nepal Fails to Improve in Corruption Perceptions Index

Nepal’s score in the Transparency International’s 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) remained unchanged at 34, but the country slipped two places to 109th among 182 countries and territories. Last year, Nepal ranked 107th out of 180 countries and territories.

Transparency International, the Berlin-based global anti-corruption watchdog, stresses that the score, rather than the rank, is the more reliable indicator, as it reflects perceived levels of public sector corruption.

The CPI, Transparency International’s flagship publication, is the world’s most widely cited corruption ranking. Countries are scored on a scale of 0 to 100, where 100 represents very clean governance and 0 indicates extreme corruption.

Transparency International Nepal (TIN) said Nepal’s long-standing score below 35 points to the repeated failure of successive governments to take concrete action against corruption. The score is based on governance-related data compiled by six international institutions up to August 2025.

“The state of the index appears to reinforce the view that rising corruption was a key factor behind the Gen Z movement in September 2025 and the subsequent loss of life and property the country had to endure,” TIN said in a statement issued on Tuesday, February 10.

According to Transparency International, last year saw a wave of Gen Z–led anti-corruption protests, particularly in countries in the lower half of the CPI, where scores have largely stagnated or declined over the past decade. Besides Nepal, youth-led protests happened in Madagascar, the Philippines, and Indonesia, where demonstrators accused leaders of abusing power while failing to deliver accessible public services, employment, and economic opportunities.

In Nepal, the Gen Z-led protests culminated in the fall of the government and the dissolution of Parliament. The country is now set to vote on March 5 to elect the 275-member House of Representatives.

TIN said the upcoming elections must result in the selection of clean, honest, and committed politicians who are not tainted by corruption. “Only then can there be hope for meaningful improvement in controlling the rampant corruption that has remained unchecked for decades,” the statement said.

Transparency International has called on political leadership to demonstrate firm commitment to controlling corruption, ensure full compliance with the law, implement international obligations, and strengthen regulatory mechanisms. It has also urged governments to close legal loopholes to prevent cross-border capital flight and safeguard citizens’ rights. The index underscores that corruption is not inevitable in politics and that leadership must take this message seriously.

The latest CPI was released against the backdrop of Nepal’s inclusion on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list. FATF, the intergovernmental body overseeing global standards on anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism, grey-listed Nepal in February 2025. Officially termed “Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring,” the list includes countries working with FATF to address deficiencies in their AML/CFT frameworks. Nepal has been given a two-year window to strengthen its compliance.

In South Asia, Bhutan topped the index with a score of 71, followed by India and the Maldives at 39 each, and Sri Lanka at 35. Nepal’s score of 34 places it ahead of Pakistan (28), Bangladesh (24), and Afghanistan (16). China scored 43, unchanged from the previous year.

Globally, the average CPI score stands at 42, the lowest level in more than a decade. More than two-thirds of countries —122 out of 180— scored below 50, indicating widespread failure to control corruption.

For the eighth consecutive year, Denmark ranked highest with a score of 89, followed by Finland at 88 and Singapore at 84. Countries with the lowest scores continue to be those marked by repression and instability, including South Sudan (9), Somalia (9), and Venezuela (10).

Transparency International compiles the CPI using data from up to 13 international surveys and expert assessments. Nepal’s score draws on evaluations by six organisations, including the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, Global Insight, the Bertelsmann Foundation, the World Justice Project, and the Varieties of Democracy Project (V-Dem), covering areas such as public sector accountability, procurement, judicial independence, and political corruption.

“Corruption is worsening globally, with even established democracies experiencing rising corruption amid a decline in leadership, according to Transparency International’s 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), published today,” read the watchdog’s global press release. “This annual index shows that the number of countries scoring above 80 has shrunk from 12 a decade ago to just five this year.”