In the latest Corruption Perception Index published by Transparency International Latvia’s score has improved when compared to the two previous years. However, the rate of corruption decline is slow. Latvia remains behind other EU and OECD member states, as reported by Delna – Society for Transparency.
In 2023 Latvia’s corruption index improved by one point, as compared to 2021 and 2022. Latvia’s overall score reaches 60 out of 100. This puts Latvia on the 14th place among 27 EU member states. Latvia shares this place with Spain. This is technically growth by one position when compared to the year before. The average score of EU member states is higher – 64 points.
As reported by Delna, with Latvia’s corruption perception index improving too slowly in the long-term perspective, the country loses the chance of approaching the objective listed in the National Development Plan 2021-2027 for Latvia’s corruption perception index to reach 64 points in 2024 and 67 in 2027. To achieve a four-point improvement in its corruption perception index Latvia needed nearly ten years.
Researchers explain Latvia’s slow progress with slow adoption of brave and decisive anti-corruption measures in areas like political integrity, prevention of waste of public resources, as well as promotion of business integrity.
Estonia’s corruption perception index went up and reached 76 points in 2023, which is a score of 12 points higher than the average in the EU. Estonia’s index not only significantly exceeds the average in the EU, it was also more than ten points higher than Latvia’s score throughout the entire corruption perception index assessment period.
Lithuania’s and Latvia’s results are nearly identical this year. Although Lithuania’s score was higher than Latvia’s in certain years, the gap is smaller now.
According to Delna, the stagnation with Latvia’s corruption perception index indicates the country’s accomplishments in corruption prevention are insufficient. This is why the country needs to take more active measures and implement specific plans.
Transparency International analyses private sector perceptions of corruption in the public sector in 180 countries and territories.
Calculation of the corruption perception index uses 13 different sources, including indexes related to democracy and government administration. Transparency International also performs surveys among businesses and provides expert risk assessment. Index score is between 0 and 100, where 0 means high corruption levels and 100 means there is no corruption in the country.
Among EU member states the average corruption perception index remains unchanged – 64. The average corruption perception in OECD member states is 66.
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