Why Bangladesh fell on the corruption index even as its score rose
While several peer countries advanced through digitalisation and anti-graft action, Bangladesh slipped further behind despite a slight improvement in perception.
Bangladesh's position in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2025 presents a mixed but ultimately worrying picture.
Although the country's score rose marginally to 24 out of 100 in 2025, up from 23 in 2024, this improvement did not translate into a stronger global standing. Instead, Bangladesh ranked as the 13th most corrupt country in the world, slipping one place compared to last year when measured from the bottom of the index.
The CPI measures perceived levels of public-sector corruption on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 indicates the highest corruption and 100 the lowest. A one-point increase therefore, signals only a very limited improvement in perception, while other countries either improved faster or avoided deterioration, pushing Bangladesh deeper into the bottom tier.
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Bangladesh now ranks 150th out of 180 countries, placing it firmly in the lowest quintile, which Transparency International categorises as countries that are "losing control of corruption." The country remains the second-worst performer in South Asia and the fourth-lowest in the Asia-Pacific region.
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) described the outcome as a "lost opportunity," noting that early expectations of progress following political change were undermined by reform setbacks, sustained corrupt practices, and weak transparency and accountability mechanisms.
Several countries that once scored at or below Bangladesh's level have since overtaken it by pursuing strategic institutional reforms, end-to-end digitalisation of public services, and credible prosecution of high-level corruption. TIB identifies Nepal, Laos, Vietnam, Timor-Leste, Ukraine, Angola and Sri Lanka as notable outperformers.
According to the report, these countries improved their CPI standing through sustained reform efforts, stronger rule-of-law signals and visible action against elite corruption, areas where Bangladesh has continued to lag.
Overall, the CPI 2025 shows that while perceptions of corruption in Bangladesh have not sharply worsened, the country has failed to make the decisive reforms needed to break out of the group of the world's most corrupt countries.
