New Zealand ranks as least corrupt

This year’s Transparency International survey puts New Zealand, Finland and Iceland tied for least corrupt nation. Last year, New Zealand was tied with Finland for second, with Iceland least corrupt.

According to news reports, the survey “defines corruption as the abuse of public office for private gain and measures the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among a country's public officials and politicians.”

Haiti was at the bottom of the list, slightly more corrupt than Myanmar and Iraq. The news report didn’t mention what the US’ ranking was, but last year it was 17th.

Update 8/11/06: Thanks to Lost in France, I now know the US ranked 2oth (see comments), and I've added the link he provided to the actual chart.