Taipei, Jan. 29 (CNA) Taiwan dropped two spots in the latest global corruption index, down to 31st out of the 180 countries and territories rated by Transparency International in 2018, highlighting areas in which Taiwan needs to improve, the organization's Taiwan chapter said Tuesday.

On a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean, Taiwan received 63 points this year, the same as last year, but still fell from 29th to 31st least corrupt country, surpassed by the Seychelles and Portugal.

According to Berlin-based Transparency International, which has conducted the annual ranking since 1995, the 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) reveals that most countries are failing to significantly control corruption and that is contributing to a crisis in democracy around the world.

More than two thirds of countries scored below 50 on this year's CPI, with an average score of 43, Transparency International said in a statement.

“While there are exceptions, the data shows that despite some progress, most countries are failing to make serious inroads against corruption,” it said.

In contrast to South Korea, which improved by three points from its score of 54 in 2017, Taiwan has stagnated in the CPI rankings since 2011, with its score moving between 61-63, according to Transparency International Chinese Taipei (TICT).

Among Asian countries, Singapore was the only one to make the top 10 least corrupt places in the world, ranking third, followed by Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan.

TICT suggested that Taiwan needs to step up its efforts to assist enterprises align their anti-bribery management systems with international standards -- ISO 37001 -- to enhance their willingness to promote trust in business dealings.

Taiwan's government should also pay more attention to problems exposed in routine surveys conducted by the Agency Against Corruption that assess corruption in the civil service and ensure those problems are addressed.

(By Hsiao Bo-wen and Shih Hsiu-chuan)
Enditem/AW