Uzbekistan (26 out of 100 points), Tajikistan (25) and Turkmenistan (19) bring up the rear for the Eastern Europe and Central Asian region on the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2020 (CPI 2020) released on January 28.

Georgia (56) and Armenia (49), along with Belarus (47) lead the region, which has an average points score of 36.

Other scores include Iran (25), Azerbaijan (30), Kyrgyzstan (31), Mongolia (35), Kazakhstan (38) and Turkey (40).

On Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer 2020, which specifically measures the percentage of a country’s public who say they have paid a bribe in the past 12 months, the scores were as follows.

Georgia 4%
Turkey 8%
Uzbekistan 13%
Azerbaijan 15%
Kazakhstan 17%
Armenia 19%
Mongolia 22%
Kyrgyzstan 24%
Tajikistan 29%
Turkmenistan n/a
Iran n/a

CPI 2020 assessed 180 countries for corruption, defined by Transparency International as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain”.

It issued a special report on Georgia entitled, “Georgia’s anti-corruption reforms stall amid political crisis and allegations of state capture”.

The watchdog concluded CPI 2020 painted a “grim picture”, with most countries on the ranking “making little to no progress in tackling corruption in almost a decade”.

“Our research shows corruption not only undermines the global health response to COVID-19, it also contributes to a continuing crisis of democracy,” Transparency said.