Is Sri Lanka losing anti-corruption battle

• Yemen and Libya have been announced as the most corrupt countries in the world and Denmark as the least corrupt country 
• Country now ranks 24.7, a drop by 7.3 notches in the Global Corruption Perception Index in 2025
•  It indicates that despite governments pledging to eradicate corruption, the country is still on a downward spiral in the battle

By Huzefa Aliasger

Despite political rhetoric for eradication of corruption, the situation in Sri Lanka seems to have taken a turn for the worse with the country now ranking 24.7, a drop by 7.3 notches in the Global Corruption Perception Index in 2025 prepared by World Economics which is a UK-based research organization.  
Sri Lanka’s level of Corruption Perception is 24.7 in 2025 from the scale from 0-100 where 0 is absolute corruption and 100 is no perception of government corruption, for which Sri Lanka falls into the “D” grade category.  
This indicates that the country has dropped even further since 2024, which was at 32 according to the Global Corruption Perception Index prepared. The index is compiled by World Economics which is an organization that conducts research on various countries.  
The Transparency International Corruptions Perception rankings are used by World Economics as a proxy for assessing the level of government corruption for each economy.  
Sri Lanka ranked 32 out of 100 in the index in 2024, 34 in 2023, 36 in 2022 and 37 in 2021, according to Transparency International data.   
 It indicates that despite governments pledging to eradicate corruption, the country is still on a downward spiral in the battle.  
Currently the global average index for corruption is 48.4 which is well above the score Sri Lanka has ranked in.  

In South Asia, Pakistan and Bangladesh are worse than Sri Lanka in corruption levels with a score of 18.2 and 13 respectively. Yemen and Libya have been announced as the most corrupt countries in the world with a score of 0 each and Denmark as the least corrupt country with a score of 100. 
Neighbouring India ranks 32.5, way above Sri Lanka.  World Economics provides comprehensive global economic data, analysis, and independent governance assessments for over 150 countries. It is widely used by investors, policymakers, researchers, and financial institutions for making informed decisions based on long‑term economic trends and governance quality.  The platform is not an anti‑corruption advocacy organization like Transparency International (which issues the Corruption Perceptions Index). Instead, World Economics includes corruption as one of several governance indicators within its wider economic datasets and indices — offering a multi‑dimensional view of countries’ institutional quality.