Other Crap

Gallup Launches Worldwide Corruption Index

• I've worked in something like 50 countries, and what is most interesting to me about these Gallup results is the difference between perception and reality in some of these countries. Gallup is ranking the people's perception of their government's corruption, as opposed to the corruption itself.
• People in developed countries are more likely to make a bigger deal out of corruption, so if you look at Gallup's chart, you'd think that Italy is more corrupt than Nigeria, which is patently ridiculous. Italy is outrageously corrupt for a sophisticated, developed nation (Transparency International rates it a 4.5/10 in transparency), but is nowhere near the level of Nigeria (2.2). What is reasonable to conclude is that Italians are more bothered by their level of corruption than Nigerians are, and perhaps they should be, because their country is far more corrupt than other countries with similar economic and social development.
• On the other side of the coin, Uzbekistan (which is extremely corrupt throughout every element of society)has somehow convinced its citizens that things are as they should be! Transparency International rates Uzbekistan (2.1) as the 9th most corrupt country in the world, but their citizens perceive it as being about equal to Canada, which is rated a sterling 8.5 by TI!
• If you'd like to review Transparency International's rankings, you can download an Excel spreadsheet here