Where does Canada rank in world corruption?

Government transperancy is the cornerstone of a successful democracy, yet many citizens in first world countries question how corrupt their governments actually are.

A new study by Transparency International was released today detailing the 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index.

Canada fairs well on the in index, coming in as the ninth least corrupt country in the world.

The Corruption Perceptions Index measured 176 countries around the world.

Scandinavian countries showed the best on the index. Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway all placed in the top six least corrupt countries, with scores ranging from 85 to 90 points.

America just snuck into the top 20, coming 18th with a score of 74. It'll be interesting to see how Donald Trump affects this score next year.

Somalia ranked the most corrupt country with a score of just 10. The African country was joined by South Sudan, North Korea and Syria in the bottom five.

“The lower-ranked countries in our index are plagued by untrustworthy and badly functioning public institutions like the police and judiciary,” a release from TI said.

“Even where anti-corruption laws are on the books, in practice they’re often skirted or ignored.”

On the other hand, “higher-ranked countries tend to have higher degrees of press freedom, access to information about public expenditure, stronger standards of integrity for public officials, and independent judicial systems.”

While the most obvious forms of corruption 'may not scar citizens’ daily lives… the higher-ranked countries are not immune to closed-door deals, conflicts of interest, illicit finance, and patchy law enforcement that can distort public policy and exacerbate corruption at home and abroad,” the release said.

All told, 2016 showed that around the world, “systemic corruption and social inequality reinforce each other, leading to popular disenchantment with political establishments and providing a fertile ground for the rise of populist politicians.”