December 6, 2006 - 17:39 AMT
Gallup: In World Corruption Rating Armenia occupies 69th place
Gallup service has published world corruption rating. Residents of 101 countries were asked to answer two simple questions, "Is corruption widely spread in the government of your country" and "Is corruption widely spread in business structures acting in your country". Gallup's rating is based on 100-point scale, where 0 is the minimal possible level of corruption and 100 is the maximal possible level. The "purest" countries occupying the first 10 places are Finland (12 points), Denmark and New Zealand (21 points), Singapore (22 points), Saudi Arabia (25 points), Great Britain, Norway and Switzerland (36 points), Australia (37 points) and Sweden (39 points). The United States occurred in the 19th place (59). Post-soviet countries are placed in the following way: Uzbekistan (18th place, 54 points), Belarus (26th place, 63 points), Georgia (31st place, 68 points), Estonia (37 place, 71 points), Armenia (69 place, 82 points), Kyrgyzstan (78 place, 84 points), Moldova and Latvia (share the 88th place with 89 points), Russia and Ukraine (93rd place, 90 points), Lithuania (the last, 101 position, 94 points). For further comparison, France (26th place, 63 points), Iran (29 place, 65 points), Japan (30th place 66 points), Afghanistan (34 place, 69 points), Germany (48th place, 75 points), Israel (84 place, 87 points). Simultaneously people were asked to estimate the level of his/her confidence towards the government (where corruption is low, the confidence is high) and assurance, that tenacious efforts can provide personal prosperity (where higher corruption, less people believe in that). Alongside, in the countries with less corruption people estimate the level of individual liberty higher, the Washington ProFile reports.