Nigeria ranked 36th world’s most corrupt country in 2025

Corruption

Transparency International, a global coalition against corruption, has again ranked Nigeria as the 36th most corrupt country in the world.

The country retrogressed from 140th in 2024 to 142nd out of 182 countries in 2025, where 1 represents the cleanest country and 182 the most corrupt.

Despite the downward ranking, the most populous African nation retained the same position as the 36th most corrupt country as in 2024.

Nigeria was joined by Cameroon, Guatemala, Guinea, Kyrgyzstan and Papua New Guinea, which shared the same position with a total score of 26 points.

The ranking, released via TI’s website on Tuesday, highlighted the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index.

Denmark maintained its position as the least corrupt country with 89 points, followed by Finland with 88 points, Singapore with 84 points, and New Zealand with 81 points.

No African country made the top 10 list of the cleanest countries, as it was dominated largely by European nations.

Seychelles, Cabo Verde and Botswana topped the list of the least corrupt African countries, with scores of 68, 62 and 58 points, respectively.

South Sudan, Somalia and Venezuela emerged as the most corrupt countries in the world for the year under review.

Explaining the basis of the ranking, the Chief Executive Officer of Transparency International, Maíra Martini, said the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index ranks 182 countries and territories worldwide by their perceived levels of public-sector corruption.

“The results are given on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).