Economic Growth

Africa’s top 10 countries for anti-corruption

Anna Bruce-Lockhart
Editorial Lead, World Economic Forum

In a speech delivered in front of thousands of Kenyans in Nairobi this week, President Barack Obama called on the African nation to “break the cycle” of corruption in government.

Bribery and a lack of transparency have long been a challenge to growth in Africa, where 80% of the population live on less than $2 a day. Obama called corruption Africa’s “biggest impediment to further growth” and urged Kenyans to hold “visible” trials to tackle the problem.

According to the 2014 survey by Transparency International, which tracks how corruption levels are perceived around the world, Kenya came 145th out of the 175 economies rated. But its poor performance paints a misleading picture of the continent as a whole. Thanks to solid and ever-improving performances from several African nations, the index shows that progress is being made across the region.

According to the data, Botswana scores 63 out of a possible 100, making it the least corrupt country in Africa. Even in global terms it’s a strong performance, since out of the 175 countries assessed around the world, two-thirds scored less than 50. (The higher a country’s number, the more transparent it is deemed to be.)

The index ranks a country according to the perception of corruption in its public sector. Corruption in this area traditionally leads to a host of unwanted social problems, from poorly equipped schools to rigged elections and a lack of trust in government.

The vast amount of money currently being lost through opaque practices poses a grave threat to the continent’s growth and development. The annual outflow of illicit finance in Africa – through trade mispricing, for instance – stands at around $60 billion, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. This is higher than any other developing region.

But despite the gloomy statistics, there are several African countries making huge strides towards achieving better transparency. As well as Botswana, three other African nations score above 50% on the index, putting them in the best-performing third worldwide: Cape Verde, Seychelles and Mauritius.

Cote d’Ivoire and Mali are two sub-Saharan countries that showed the most improvement between 2013 and 2014, while Lesotho, Namibia, Rwanda, Ghana, South Africa and Senegal round out the 10 countries perceived as the least corrupt in the region.

Here’s a list of the least corrupt countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It shows how national performances have been seen to improve or decline between 2013 and 2014:

COUNTRY 2014 2013 BOTSWANA 63 64 CAPE VERDE 57 58 SEYCHELLES 55 54 MAURITIUS 54 52 LESOTHO 49 49 NAMIBIA 49 48 RWANDA 49 53 GHANA 48 46 SOUTH AFRICA 44 42 SENEGAL 43 41

Source: Transparency International

Have you read?
9 megatrends shaping Africa’s future
The 4 pillars of corruption and how to topple them
Why better transparency starts at the top

Author: Anna Bruce-Lockhart is an editor at the World Economic Forum.

Image: A trader weighs gold nuggets at an illegal mine-pit in Walungu territory of South-Kivu province near Bukavu, April 5, 2014. REUTERS/Kenny Katombe

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

Sign up for free

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Stay up to date:

Africa

Related topics:
Economic GrowthGeo-Economics and PoliticsGeographies in Depth
Share:
The Big Picture
Explore and monitor how Africa is affecting economies, industries and global issues
World Economic Forum logo

Forum Stories newsletter

Bringing you weekly curated insights and analysis on the global issues that matter.

Subscribe today

How can we transform the economic growth we have into the growth we want?

Council on the Future of Growth and 2023-2024

December 20, 2024

AI-driven growth: Navigating the path to new markets

About us

Engage with us

  • Sign in
  • Partner with us
  • Become a member
  • Sign up for our press releases
  • Subscribe to our newsletters
  • Contact us

Quick links

Language editions

Privacy Policy & Terms of Service

Sitemap

© 2024 World Economic Forum