Greece improves in corruption index but still ranks below Ghana

Greece scored a 46 in 2015's index, which puts it above neighbours Italy and Turkey, but bellow countries such as Ghana and Costa Rica. The performance for 2015 marked minor improvement over previous readings (43 in 2014, 40 in 2013 and 36 in 2012).

Northern European countries, such as Denmark, Finland and Sweden, have topped the list for 2015.

Brazil suffered the sharpest deterioration in public perceptions of corruption last year.

It tumbled to 76th place out of 168 countries, down seven positions from 2014. Latin America's largest economy was rocked by a massive corruption scandal at state-run companies, including oil giant Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras), which involved allegations against top government officials.

Other decliners last year included Libya, Australia, Spain and Turkey. Turkey, which saw one of the sharpest declines in 2014 as a major corruption scandal buffeted the ruling Islamist-rooted AK Party, fell a further three points.

Two thirds of the 168 countries assessed scored below the 50 mark in TI's scale where 100 stands for the most clean and 0 for the most corrupt, indicating that corruption continues to take a heavy toll on the global economy and governance.

On a brighter note, however, the survey showed general perceptions of corruption around the world had declined in 2015.

Source: Transparency International, Reuters