Photo Credit: Caro Curbelo/Transparency International
By Aaron Humes: After 17 years away, Belize has returned to the rankings of the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2025 with a score of 36 on a 100-point scale, tied for 104th of 182 countries along with Argentina and Ukraine.
It’s seven points better than our previous score of 29 in 2008 and reverses a decline dating back several years before that, but is rated worse than any member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) except for Haiti who scored 16 points. The region’s highest score is Barbados with 68 points followed by The Bahamas on 64 points and St Vincent and the Grenadines with 63.
Belize trails only Costa Rica among Central American nations; they scored 56 points. Panama was third with 33 points; El Salvador fourth with 32; Guatemala fifth with 26; Honduras sixth with 22 and Nicaragua brought up the rear on 17 points.
Data from 2003 to 2008 showed that Belize averaged 36 points and declined from a high of 45 points in 2003, when it ranked 45th place of 126 countries. In the CPI, 100 is equal to zero corruption.
According to Transparency International, to be ranked, a country must feature in at least three of its 13 consulted data sources. “A country’s absence from the list does not mean that country is corruption-free, only that there is not enough data available to accurately measure levels of corruption,” it states.
For the record, governments are not responsible to submit any information to be included on the CPI; such information is collected by third-party institutions in the region. We have reached out to various experts for comment and hope to have their responses in a future story.
The post Belize makes long-awaited return to Corruption Perception Index – score of 36 bottom but one among Caribbean nations, but second in Central America appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
Photo Credit: Caro Curbelo/Transparency International By Aaron Humes: After 17 years away, Belize has returned to the rankings of the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2025 with a score of 36 on a 100-point scale, tied for 104th of 182 countries along with Argentina and Ukraine. It’s seven points better than our previous
The post Belize makes long-awaited return to Corruption Perception Index – score of 36 bottom but one among Caribbean nations, but second in Central America appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
