Corruption rises: 20 facts you must know

Somalia is the world's most corrupt nation, according to Transparency International's 2010 Corruption Perception Index.

The 2010 CPI shows that nearly three quarters of the 178 countries in the index score below five, on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 10 (perceived to have low levels of corruption), indicating a serious corruption problem.

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New Zealand, Denmark and Singapore are the least corrupt countries in the world, according to Transparency International's 2010 Corruption Perception Index. Stiff penalties against bribing government officials or accepting bribes are strictly enforced.

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India, unfortunately, continues to be among the world's most corrupt nations. In fact, it has fallen further in the Transparency International index to be ranked at 87 among 180 nations.

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Corruption has risen in India since 2008. In 2008, India was at the 85th position, it was ranked at 84 in 2009. African nations like Rwanda (66), Ghana (62), Namibia (56)and Botswana (33), which were perennially dogged by corruption -- are now better off than of India in terms of transparency.

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The total amount of money involved in various scams in India over the last 12 years alone, since 1992, is estimated to be over Rs 80 lakh crore (Rs 80 trillion) or $1.80 trillion! While this figure is not claimed to be a definitive calculation, it has been arrived at on the basis of material published in newspapers over the years.

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At a mind-boggling Rs 176,000 crore (Rs 1.76 trillion), the 2G spectrum allocation scam is by far the biggest scam in India. The Supreme Court recently said the spectrum scam has put 'all other scams to shame'. The current Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, however, says there was 'zero loss' to the nation in the allocation.

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Post-Independence, India lost a staggering $462 billion, or about Rs 21 lakh crore, in illicit financial flows due to tax evasion, crime and corruption, according to Washington-based Global Financial Integrity (GFI).

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The total amount of money stashed away in tax havens has been estimated at a whopping $11.5 trillion by the Tax Justice Network.

About 54 per cent Indians say they greased the palms of authorities to get things done. One person in four worldwide paid a bribe during the past year.

Bengaluru tops the bribery chart in India, according to a news report. It is followed by Mumbai, Chennai and Pune. People surveyed in these cities said that they had paid a bribe to a government official or a policeman or a health worker or a private organisation's employee in the last year. 

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The majority of bribe demands in India (91 per cent) came from government officials. And policemen accounted for 30 per cent of the bribe demands (second only to national-level government officials at 33 per cent).

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In India, lower income earners reported paying more bribes than the high-salaried people. The poor always seem to have the worst of all worlds.

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The highest number of bribery payments in 2010 is in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Cameroon, India, Iraq, Liberia, Nigeria, Palestine, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Uganda where more than 50 per cent of people surveyed paid bribe in the past 12 months.

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Worldwide, sub-Saharan Africa was the region reporting the greatest incidence of bribery with more than one person in two saying they had made such payments to officials in the past 12 months.

The Middle East and North Africa was the next most corrupt regions with 36 per cent of people there reporting having paid bribes.

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Bribery and corruption are the most common economic crimes that India's manufacturing sector faces, says the PwC Global Economic Crime Survey. Over 25 per cent of Indian manufacturing sector respondents have been victims of economic crime in the past year as against 21 per cent of the global manufacturing sector respondents.

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The pressures to commit economic crime in the manufacturing sector in India were much higher globally (60 per cent) in the last 12 months as compared to India (29 per cent).

In comparison, rationalisation to commit economic crime was much higher in manufacturing companies in India (42 per cent) as compared to the global level (15 per cent).

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As many as 74 per cent Indians believe that corruption levels have increased in the past three years.

Globally, 60 per cent people hold the same view, and one in four people report paying bribes in the last year. Military, non-governmental organizations are least affected by corruption.

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The countries with autocratic rule are more corrupt. Myanmar, Sudan, Chad and many Asian and African countries rank high in corruption. Countries with a democratic government like Germany, Japan, Ireland and UK have less corruption.

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According to Standard and Poor's, the likelihood of an investor losing his entire investment within five years lies somewhere between 80 per cent and 100 per cent in countries such as Colombia, Iraq and Libya.

It is more than 60 per cent in Egypt and Syria and around 50 per cent in Algeria, Jordan, Morocco and Turkey.

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In China, around 106,000 officials were found guilty of corruption in 2009, an increase of 2.5 per cent compared to the earlier year.

The United Nations established International Anti-Corruption Day in 2003 to raise awareness and promote the global fight against this menace.