Somalia and North Korea are the 'most corrupt' nations on Earth… and Britain ties with Barbados at number 16

• New Zealand is ranked least corrupt in survey
• U.S. is ranked at 24th in survey of 182 nations
• Large proportion of European nations in the top 20

By Katie Silver

Last updated at 8:52 PM on 4th December 2011

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Somalia and North Korea are perceived as the most corrupt countries, a report released this week said.
New Zealand, on the other hand, comes in at number one with the most sparkly clean reputation for corruption.
The report, released by German watchdog organisation Transparency International, ranked Britain as 16th least corrupt on a 'corruption perceptions index' while the U.S. came in at number 24.

North Korea and Somalia are the 'most corrupt' countries, according to a study. Here North Korean leader Kim Jong-il appears with the Korean People's Army

The bottom ranks, in front of Somalia and North Korea who tied at number 182, were occupied by Myanmar, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Sudan, Iraq, Haiti and Venezuela.
In terms of the top performers, with the exception of New Zealand, Singapore at number five and Australia at number eight, most of the top spots are occupied by European nations.
These include the Scandinavian nations of Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Iceland - along with Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Belgium and Ireland which were all in the top 20.
Bulgaria was the lowest-performing European Union country, ranking at number 86.
The top performers of the Americas include Canada which ranked 10th, Barbados 16th, Bahamas 21st and Chile at 22nd.

Somalia tied at 182nd as the world's most corrupt country. Here, a displaced Somalian woman stands at Banadir hospital which serves the residents of the world's largest refugee camp

To compile the index, Transparency International used reports based 'on different assessments and business opinion surveys carried out by independent and reputable institutions.'
The organisation said perceptions needed to be because corruption is so hidden it is hard to measure.
'Over time perceptions have proved to be a reliable estimate of corruption,' Transparency International said in it's report.
The report asked questions relating to:

• the bribery of public officials,
• kickbacks in public procurement,
• embezzlement of public funds,
• the strength and effectiveness of public-sector and anti-corruption efforts

Regionally, in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Turkey is ranked highest at 61 while Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are lowest at 177.
In the Middle East and North Africa, Qatar ranks best at number 22 while Iraq is the lowest at number 175.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana ranked highest at number 32.
India fell from 87th in 2010 to 95th, ranking behind China (75th) but in front of Pakistan (134th) in South-Asian nations. 
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2069934/Somalia-North-Korea-corrupt-nations-Earth--Britain-ties-Barbados-number-16.html#ixzz1feAMm2Hy