Transparency - ARTICLE 19

The free flow of information is essential for democracy. It enables strong and engaged citizen participation and the exercise of rights, fosters sustainable development, improves economic performance, and makes national authorities accountable for their actions – particularly important regarding the management of public finances and public services.

The Americas region has experienced the largest drop in Transparency scores over the last decade, with the biggest dips taking place over the last five years. Fundamental tenets of transparency (and democracy more broadly) are being eroded in the Americas, with an average 0.14 drop in scores (as standardised [1]) for transparent laws with predictable enforcement, and an average 0.15 drop in scores for rigorous and impartial public administration between 2013 and 2018.

Table 15: Transparency scores for each region, 2008–18

	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Africa	0.43	0.43	0.44	0.44	0.43	0.43	0.43	0.43	0.42	0.42	0.42
Americas	0.63	0.62	0.62	0.63	0.62	0.60	0.60	0.60	0.61	0.59	0.56
APA^a	0.51	0.52	0.52	0.52	0.52	0.50	0.49	0.49	0.49	0.48	0.49
ECA^b	0.70	0.70	0.70	0.71	0.70	0.69	0.68	0.68	0.67	0.66	0.66
MENA^c	0.27	0.27	0.28	0.28	0.31	0.32	0.31	0.30	0.31	0.30	0.30
Average Country Score	0.54	0.54	0.54	0.54	0.54	0.53	0.53	0.52	0.52	0.51	0.51

Notes: a. Asia and the Pacific; b. Europe and Central Asia; c. Middle East and North Africa.

Table 16: Top and bottom five scores for Transparency, 2018

Position	Country	Score
1	Norway	0.96
2	Denmark	0.96
3	Germany	0.95
4	Finland	0.95
5	Switzerland	0.95
…	*Average*	*0.51*
157	Nicaragua	0.02
158	Syria	0.02
159	Bahrain	0.01
160	Eritrea	0.01
161	North Korea	0.00

Figure 7:

Note: Figure 7 shows average regional scores.

[1] Z-scores (the number of standard deviations from the mean of the original data point) were calculated for each factor.