Transparency International issued its 2009 Corruption Index, which rates 180 countries on a scale of corruption from 0 (highest) to 10 (lowest).
The following is the rating of the Middle East countries by rank and score:
22 Qatar 7.0
32 Israel 6.1
39 Oman 5.5
46 Bahrain 5.1
49 Jordan 5.0
61 Turkey 4.4
63 Saudi Arabia 4.3
65 Tunisia 4.2
66 Kuwait 4.1
89 Morocco 3.3
111 Algeria 2.8 [same rating as Egypt]
126 Syria 2.6
130 Libya 2.5
150 Yemen 2.1
168 Iran 1.8
176 Iraq 1.5
176 Sudan 1.5
179 Afghanistan 1.3
180 Somalia 1.1
The biggest decline was that of Iran, which dropped 27 places between 2008 and 2009, while Syria registered a big improvement, rising to 126 in 2009 from 147 in 2008. The improvement is attributed to Syria's liberalization of its banking and investment laws.
Source: Transparency International, Berlin, November 2009
