Nepal has been ranked in 110th position out of 180 countries and territories in the Corruption Perceptions Index.

According to Corruption Perceptions Index 2022, an annual flagship publication of Transparency International, a global anti-corruption group based in Berlin, made public on Tuesday, Nepal made a slight improvement by climbing seven positions in the global rankings. Nepal was ranked in the 117th position in 2021.

Transparency International uses a scale of zero to 100, where zero is the most corrupt and 100 is the least corrupt. A score below 50 is considered as having a relatively higher level of corruption in a country, according to the anti-corruption advocacy body.

Nepal received 34 points in 2022, one point more than in 2021.

Despite some improvement in Nepal’s score, it remains in the category of countries with rampant corruption, Transparency International Nepal said in a statement.

In South Asia, Nepal has been ranked below Bhutan (25th), the Maldives (85th), India (85th) and Sri Lanka (101st). Pakistan (140th), Bangladesh (147th) and Afghanistan (150th) are the only countries behind Nepal.

The CPI global average remains unchanged at 43 for the eleventh year in a row, and more than two-thirds of countries have a serious problem with corruption, scoring below 50.

Denmark (90) tops the index this year, with Finland and New Zealand following closely, both at 87. South Sudan (13), Syria (13) and Somalia (12), all of which are embroiled in protracted conflict, remain at the bottom of the CPI.