Berlin, 10 February 2026 – The Americas show no progress in the fight against corruption, according to Transparency International’s 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) published today, with the region scoring an average of just 42 out of 100. Since 2012,12 of the 33 countries have significantly worsened, while only Dominican Republic (37) and Guyana (40) have significantly improved, highlighting a decade of stalled or reversed efforts. Years of government inaction have eroded democracy, enabled organised crime, and directly harmed citizens by undermining human rights, public services, and security.
For years, corruption has enabled organised crime to infiltrate politics in countries like Colombia (37), Mexico (27) and Brazil (35), affecting people’s lives. Now, Costa Rica (56) and Uruguay (73), the region’s strongest democracies and CPI performers, are suffering from the violence fuelled by corruption and organised crime, while countries with failed and co-opted institutions, including Haiti (16) and Nicaragua (14), continue to struggle with entrenched corruption and criminal networks.
In Peru (30), corruption in public services has had severe consequences, including a scandal in which alleged bribes to bypass health inspections reportedly led to contaminated food being distributed in public schools. In Argentina (36), investigations into alleged corruption in the management of funds for medicines for people with disabilities show similar risks for vulnerable groups. In Venezuela (10), the country’s low score reflects years of widespread corruption and illicit activities that have seen poverty and malnutrition soar as millions of families survive on limited food, water and electricity.
Oversight and accountability are being weakened in several countries as civic space contracts. In El Salvador (32), restrictions on civil society organisations limit scrutiny and independent monitoring of government actions. In Guyana (40), harassment and intimidation of independent media and civil society similarly curtail oversight and accountability.
Luciana Torchiaro, Regional Advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean at Transparency International said:
“To improve people’s lives and build resilience to organised crime, governments must put the fight against corruption at the centre of their agenda. This means protecting fundamental freedoms, enforcing the law through a strong and independent judiciary, enhancing international cooperation on corruption cases, and making public procurement more transparent.”
KEY FINDINGS FOR THE REGION
The CPI ranks 182 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption on a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
- Top scorers in the Americas are Canada (75), Uruguay (73) and Barbados (68). These are among the region’s strongest democracies, but limited growth and setbacks are concerning.
- Venezuela (10), Nicaragua (14) and Haiti (16) are again the three lowest in the region marked by high levels of repression, failed or co-opted institutions, and entrenched corruption.
- The United States (64) sustained its downward slide to its lowest-ever score. While the full impact of 2025 developments are not yet reflected, recent actions, such as targeting independent voices and undermining judicial independence, raise serious concerns. Beyond the CPI findings, the temporary freeze and weakening of enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act signal tolerance for corrupt business practices, while cuts to US aid for overseas civil society have weakened global anti-corruption efforts.
- Countries like El Salvador (32) and Ecuador (33) are experiencing a decline in transparency and civic freedoms, with laws limiting NGOs’ access to funding and obstructing their operations, paired with intimidation and hostility toward independent media, reducing citizen oversight and the ability to hold government accountable.
NOTES TO EDITORS
For each country’s individual score and changes over time, as well as global and regional analysis, see the CPI 2025 webpage: https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2025 (goes live at 07:01 CET, 10 February 2026.)
The media page includes the CPI 2025 report, as well as the full dataset, methodology and graphics.
INTERVIEW REQUESTS
Spokespeople are available in English and Spanish. For queries about regional and global findings, please contact the Transparency International press office at press@transparency.org. In case of country-specific queries, please contact Transparency International’s national chapters.
ABOUT THE CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS INDEX
Since its inception in 1995, Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index has become the leading global indicator of public sector corruption. The index scores 182 countries and territories around the world based on perceptions of public sector corruption, using data from 13 external sources, including the World Bank, World Economic Forum, private risk and consulting companies, think tanks and others. The scores reflect the views of experts and businesspeople, not the public.
The process for calculating the CPI is regularly reviewed to make sure it is as robust and coherent as possible, most recently by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre in 2017. All the CPI scores since 2012 are comparable from one year to the next. For more information, see this article: The ABCs of the CPI: How the Corruption Perceptions Index is calculated.
source : What is corruption? – Transparency.org
