Albania the 15th most corrupt country in the world - UN report

 Corruption act, illustration

 When Albanians are asked whether they think corruption is widespread in their country, the overwhelming majority think that YES. According to the corruption sub-index, published in the latest Global Happiness Report, commissioned by the United Nations, Albania ranks 15th among the most corrupt countries in the world, measured by the perception of its citizens.

According to the methodology of the report, corruption perception measures the national average of the two responses in the survey conducted by Gallup: "Is corruption widespread in government or not?" and "Is corruption pervasive to businesses or not?" The overall perception is an average between the two answers 0 or 1, where 1 is the highest level. The perception of corruption at the national level is the average of total perception responses at the individual level.

For Albania, the 2018 index is 0.9, so close to 1, indicating the maximum level of corruption.

Historical data, since 2007, shows that the perception of corruption was the lowest in 2010, when the indicator dropped to 0.73, to increase again in the coming years and to reach the highest level at 0.9 . After falling in 2017, the 2018 index reached again a record of 0.9.

Chart on corruption perception in Albania

In the world, the highest corruption perceived by the inhabitants of the country is Bulgaria, with the indicator 0.95, followed by Ukrania and Moldova.

Generally, the countries in the region do not seem to have confidence in their government systems. Citizens of Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia think that their governments are very corrupt, even more so than in Albania.

The report says the public looks angry relating to political leaders who are perceived as unable to resolve inequality, corruption, violence, and uncertainty.

Countries whose citizens perceive that the country has little corruption are Singapore, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, etc.

UN chart on corruption perception in the World

In the Happiness Index 2019, published by the United Nations, Albania ranks 107th out of 156 countries, being the last in Europe. One of the main elements that makes Albanians feel unhappy is the high level of corruption. The other problematic indicator is that of social support, where Albania is in the 133th place, followed by the negative feelings (108), while we are best placed in the East on the expectation of a healthy life (40).