NZ's squeaky clean image confirmed

New Zealand's squeaky clean image has been confirmed in an international corruption survey.

New Zealand is tied for second place with Finland in Transparency International's (TI) 2005 corruption index.

On a perceptions scale of zero to 10 -- with zero indicating the most corrupt and 10 indicating the most honest -- New Zealand's score is 9.6.

Iceland led the index with a score of 9.7.

TI is a Berlin-based non-governmental organisation devoted to combating corruption.

The annual corruption perceptions index is based on surveys of analysts and business people.

It is a proxy for measuring actual corruption in the public sector, which TI says would be difficult, and would produce unreliable results that could not be compared from country to country.

More than two-thirds of the 159 nations included in the index scored lower than five out of 10, with Chad and Bangladesh finishing last, both with 1.7.

China, where no TI surveys were conducted, does not figure in the index. Australia is ranked ninth (corruption index 8.8), the United States is ranked 17 (corruption index 7.6) and the United Kingdom comes in at 11th place (8.6).

Only one Asian country -- Singapore at 6th place -- ranks in the top ten "clean" countries.

Some lower-income countries, such as Botswana at 5.9, scored relatively high, but as a rule, corruption and poverty went hand in hand.

"Corruption is a major cause of poverty as well as a barrier to overcoming it," TI chairman Peter Eigen said.

"When countries improve governance and reduce corruption, they reap a 'development dividend' that can include reduction in child mortality rates and increase in per capita income and literacy rates."

Countries with the lowest levels of corruption:
1 Iceland 9.7
2 Finland 9.6
2 NEW ZEALAND 9.6
4 Denmark 9.5
5 Singapore 9.4
6 Sweden 9.2
7 Switzerland 9.1
8 Norway 8.9
9 Australia 8.8
10 Austria 8.7

Countries with the highest levels of corruption:
158 Chad 1.7
158 Bangladesh 1.7
155 Turkmenistan 1.8
155 Myanmar 1.8
155 Haiti 1.8
152 Nigeria 1.9
152 Equatorial Guinea 1.9
152 Cote d'Ivoire 1.9
151 Angola 2.0

The full listing can be viewed using the link below.

- NZPA