Barbados retained its number one position as the least corrupt Caribbean nation, and ranks 25th worldwide, according to Transparency International's (TI) 2018 Corruption Perceptive Index (CPI). Caribbean states ranking lower than Barbados were the Bahamas (29th), St. Vincent (41st), Dominica (45th), St Lucia (50th), Cuba (61st), Jamaica (70th) and Trinidad & Tobago (78th).

For four of the past six years, 2013-2018, Barbados ranked as the least corrupt Caribbean nation, and only slipped second to the Bahamas in 2016. The country was not ranked in 2015.  Barbados also retained its position as the 4th least corrupt country in the Americas with only Canada, USA and Uruguay being ranked higher. Barbados' ranking of 25th out of 180 countries, is the same as the previous year.

The CPI, published annually, ranks countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, according to experts and businesspeople. It uses a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.  Barbados' CPI score of 68 out of 100 is the same as the previous year, suggesting that the country remains active in redressing corruption. TI reports that more than two-thirds of the countries assessed scored below 50 on this year's CPI, with an average score of just 43. A country with a CPI score of less than 50 suggests that it has corruption problems.

These results are of concern, for according to TI, 'they reveal the continued failure of most countries to significantly control corruption is contributing to a  crisis in democracy around the world'.  They are also of the view that while some progress is being made, most countries are making little headway in redressing corruption. 

The top transparent countries according to the index are Denmark and New Zealand with scores of 88 and 87, respectively. The bottom countries are Somalia, Syria and South Sudan with scores of 10, 13 and 13, respectively. 

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