Narayan AmmachchiUruguay is the least corrupt country in Latin America, while Venezuela ranks among the region’s most corrupt, according to the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) published by Transparency International.
The CPI, which scores 182 countries on a scale from 0 (“highly corrupt”) to 100 (“very clean”), shows that the Americas average just 42 points, underscoring widespread governance challenges.
In the region, Uruguay scored 73, making it the best performer alongside other stronger democracies, while Venezuela’s score of 10 placed it at the bottom, reflecting chronic corruption, institutional breakdown and repression. Nicaragua (14) and Haiti (16) also ranked poorly.
Only two countries — the Dominican Republic (37) and Guyana (40) — registered modest improvements in perceived corruption, the report noted, marking rare signs of progress.
However, overall anti-corruption efforts in the region have stalled, with 12 of 33 countries scoring worse than they did in 2012, and organized crime increasingly influencing politics and public administration.
The CPI highlights corruption’s pervasive impact on governance, justice and public services across the Americas. In Colombia (37), Brazil (35) and Mexico (27), the report warns that corruption has enabled transnational organized crime to infiltrate political systems.
Corruption has also marred essential public services: ongoing investigations in Peru involve alleged bribery in a school feeding program, while in Argentina authorities are probing misuse of funds for medicines for people with disabilities.
Meanwhile, El Salvador (32) and Ecuador (33) face declining transparency and shrinking civic space, with restrictive laws hampering NGOs and independent media — key accountability mechanisms.
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