This week marks the much-awaited annual rendezvous with Transparency International Zambia (TI-Z) for the official publication of the world’s leading measurement of public sector corruption- the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).
Visit the CPI portal to learn more about global, Africa and Zambia trends!!
Having released the results released today, we are assessing the progress that Zambia has made in the fight against corruption in 2024, looking at Zambia’s score in the index. For us, this represents a precious opportunity to reflect on the challenges and opportunities ahead and advocate for more effective action in fighting corruption.
Last year, for the first time in a decade, Zambia’s score on the index increased, from 33 to 37, signaling a significant improvement in the fight against corruption. To the layman, the process might appear quite straightforward: one needs to just look at the score… If it increases, the country is going in the right direction.
Unfortunately, things are rarely as simple as they seem. The underlying methodology behind the CPI is complex and – to many – obscure. Understanding the CPI methodology is key to ensuring that we correctly interpret the index and draw correct conclusions and recommendations. We want to make the CPI less obscure for you, so we’ve come up with six key things that you need to understand if you want to master this year’s CPI.
1. The CPI scores 180 countries and territories around the world based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be. The scores reflect the views of experts and surveys from businesspeople, not the public.
2. Transparency International derives these scores from 9 external sources for Zambia. These include the World Bank, private risk and consulting companies, think tanks and others. Transparency International is not involved in the production of any of these datasets! When looking at the different datasets, TI only takes into consideration questions concerning perceptions of public sector corruption within these indexes.
3. What TI does is to adapt these datasets to fit the CPI. This is the complex part of the index, which often results in some misunderstandings. Each external source ranks Zambia using its own scale. For instance, one source uses a scale of 1 to 7, while another uses a scale of 1 to 100. Direct comparison of the Zambia score between different sources is not possible, so TI transforms each score from the original scale into standardized values, which are then converted into a scale of 0 to 100, which is the CPI scale. At that point, TI calculates the average of the transformed scores for all 9 sources for Zambia. The result is Zambia’s final CPI score. The same happens with every country in the index.
4. Zambia’s performance in the CPI is defined by its score and its ranking. The score highlights the country’s performance in the fight against corruption. An increase in score means that Zambia is becoming more transparent, while a decrease signals higher levels of perceived corruption. Meanwhile, the ranking indicates where Zambia ranks compared to other countries. A change in ranking means that Zambia ranks higher or lower than other countries. For this reason, comparing ranking across different years makes little sense. The highest-ranking country in last year’s CPI was Denmark, ranking first out of 180 countries with a score of 90/100. The lowest ranking country was Somalia, ranking 180th, with a score of 11 out of 100. Last year, Zambia’s score improved from 33 to 37, ranking 98th
5. Changes in the CPI score are due to changes in the individual data sources that were used to compile the CPI for Zambia. Not all sources are published annually, and not all sources are taken into consideration every year for the same country. Sometimes, this results in changes of score attributable to developments in a previous year. It is also for this reason that TI emphasizes the importance of looking at improvements or declines in the CPI score over a protracted period to determine a significant trend. Year-to-year small oscillations of one or two points can occur and should not be instrumental for political agendas. However, a five-year-long improvement offers solid ground for asserting that a country is becoming more transparent.
6. As TI-Z, we are neither involved in collecting the data, nor in measuring CPI scores. We have no power to influence whether Zambia’s score for the 2024 CPI will improve or not. What we do is analyze the reasons behind Zambia’s performance and provide recommendations. We do so by looking at the changes, whether positive or negative, in each of the external data sources that were used to determine Zambia’s score. Every index will display a different behavior, depending on its specific angle. By analyzing the changes in each index, we get an accurate idea of what factors contributed to triggering change in the CPI. For instance, during last year’s CPI, we registered improvements in 3 data sources concerning prosecution effectiveness, political corruption, and procurement corruption, while other data sources signaled no marked improvement. This helped us define the driving factors in the CPI improvement.
After unpacking the CPI methodology, we are left with a big pending question. What will Zambia’s CPI score be this year? Will it improve or worsen? The results will officially published on 11th February 2025. Follow us on our website and social media channels to remain updated.
