Those little specs of yellow amongst the red on the map are
glimmers of hope that patterns of exploitation can be broken.
“Corruption” is defined by Transparency International (TI) as
“the abuse of entrusted power for private gain.” Each year TI
publishes a “Corruption Perceptions Index” which scores the
world's nations out of ten for their public sector honesty and
the just-released 2011 report paints a bleak picture. Only six
countries scored 9.0 or better, and just 49 of the 186 countries
assessed in the report scored better than 5.0. Analysis shows
more than 80% of human beings on Planet Earth exist under
regimes which score 4.0 or less. December 9 is World Anti-
Corruption Day. Corruption hurts everyone - the following
article shows what's wrong and where, and what you can do to
help make the world a fairer place.