During his speech at the Global Security Forum, the Prime Minister of Georgia, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, spoke about Georgia’s achievements and stated:

“There is one of the lowest rates of corruption in Georgia and we are ahead of many European nations in this regard.”

FactCheck

took interest in the accuracy of the statement.

Transparency International publishes the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) annually. The Index is prepared on the basis of research conducted by different international organisations and determines the corruption perception level in the public sector by providing country rankings. It is based on interviews with the population and, therefore, demonstrates people’s perceptions of corruption and not actual corruption levels. The CPI is one of the most reliable indices in the world and shows how perceptions differ in various countries. As of 2016, Georgia occupied the 44^th

place among the 176 countries in the aforementioned ranking.

Graph 1:

 Georgia’s CPI Ranking, 2008-2016

Source: Transparency International  

Georgia’s positioning in the ranking has been constantly improving with 2013 being the only exception.

As for the data for 2016, the CPI is the lowest in Denmark and New Zealand (90 points). These two countries are ranked first in the CPI rating whilst Somalia registered the highest CPI (10 points).

Table 1:

 Top Ten Countries According to 2016 Corruption Perception Index Ranking

	Country	Points
1	Denmark	90
2	New Zealand	90
3	Finland	89
4	Sweden	88
5	Switzerland	86
6	Norway	85
7	Singapore	84
8	Netherlands	83
9	Canada	82
10	Germany	81

Source: Transparency International   Georgia is ranked as 21^st

in terms of its corruption level among the countries of the Europe and Central Asia region.

Graph 2:

 Top 21 Countries of Europe and Central Asia Region (Lowest CPI)

Georgia is ahead of many European countries in terms of the CPI. Of the 27 member states of the European Union, ten are outperformed by Georgia (Czech Republic, Croatia, Cyprus, Italy, Hungary, etc) whilst Georgia is ranked 1^st

in terms of the CPI in the Central Asia region.

Conclusion According to Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2016, Georgia ranked 44^th out of the 176 countries in the rating. The CPI shows that Georgia has a better performance as compared to many European countries, including some EU member states, whilst it ranks 1^st

in the Central Asia region.

Of note, however, is that the Prime Minister was talking about the level of corruption in Georgia whilst the CPI refers to the population’s perception of corruption and not the actual corruption level. Nevertheless, as there is no other large-scale research in regard to corruption, Transparency International’s Index is a relevant resource for assessing corruption levels.

Therefore, Giorgi Kvirikashvili’s statement is MOSTLY TRUE.