DILI, 11 february 2026 (TATOLI) – Timor-Leste has fallen three places in Transparency International’s 2025 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), ranking 73rd out of 182 countries.
With a score of 44 out of 100, Timor-Leste tied with Jamaica and Solomon Islands.
In 2024, Timor-Leste’s rank was 70th up from 77th place in 2023.
Among ASEAN countries, Timor-Leste ranks below Singapore (3rd), Brunei Darussalam (31st) and Malaysia (54th), but above Vietnam (81st), Indonesia (109th), Laos (109th), Thailand (116th), the Philippines (120th), Cambodia (163rd) and Myanmar (169th).
Globally, Denmark topped the index, while South Sudan ranked at the bottom. Transparency International reported that since 2012, 50 countries have experienced significant declines in their Corruption Perceptions Index scores.
With 44 points on the CPI scale, Timor-Leste remains below the global average but performs better than many countries in the Asia Pacific region.
According to a report released by Transparency International on 10 February 2026, corruption continues to pose a serious challenge worldwide, with only limited signs of improvement.
The report urges leaders to take decisive action to address abuses of power and the broader drivers of the decline, including the weakening of democratic checks and balances and attacks on independent civil society.
“Anti-government protests in many parts of the world show that people are fed up with unaccountable leadership and are demanding reform,” according to the report.
While 31 countries have significantly reduced their corruption levels since 2012, the rest are failing to tackle the problem – they have stayed stagnant or got worse during the same period.
The global average has fallen to a new low of 42, while more than two-thirds of countries score below 50.
The report said that people are paying the price, as corruption leads to under-funded hospitals, unbuilt flood defences and blights the hopes and dreams of young people.
The CPI ranks 182 countries and territories worldwide by their perceived levels of public sector corruption. The results are given on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
TATOLI
