On the face of it, New Zealand’s positive placing in a newly-released scorecard of perceived corruption seems reassuring.
The country remains among the world’s least corrupt in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), published annually by global civil society organisation Transparency International.
But the 2025 rankings hide a more troubling story. New Zealand’s score has been falling for a decade, even as its position near the top holds.
The index scores more than 180 countries on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 means highly corrupt and 100 means very clean. With a score of 81, New Zealand now sits joint fourth with Norway, after a two-point drop from last year.
That pattern reflects not just mounting challenges at home, but a wider global shift that is dragging down even top-performing countries.
A decade ago, a dozen nations would have earned “A-grade” rankings at the top of the board. Today, that group – including Denmark (scoring 89), Finland (88), Singapore (84), Sweden (80) and Switzerland (80) – has nearly halved.
Some might argue a top-four ranking is still strong, especially when two-thirds of countries receive failing grades (below 50). But that misses the broader point.
New Zealand’s score has fallen from 91 in 2015 to 81 today. If that trend continues, it risks slipping out of the top tier altogether.
A global slide
At a global level, the picture is also deteriorating. The average CPI score fell by one point this year to a historic low of 42. That may not sound like much, but it is the first drop in a decade – and from an already low baseline, even small declines are notable.
There is now a clear pattern of gradual but noticeable slips among top performers, including New Zealand, Sweden, Canada and the United Kingdom. The United States is the only other country near the top to have seen a drop as steep as New Zealand’s, with its score falling from 76 in 2015 to 64 today.
For Aotearoa, that global slide has real-world consequences. Falling in the corruption rankings weakens “Brand New Zealand” and makes the country potentially less attractive to investors, tourists, skilled migrants and trading partners.
Around 30% of New Zealand’s exports go to countries with CPI scores above 70, including Australia, Japan, Singapore and the UK – markets where reputation and trust carry weight.
At the same time, about a third of New Zealand’s exports go to countries with CPI scores below 50, including China and several Southeast Asian nations.
In those markets, strong domestic integrity systems and robust safeguards in trade relationships are even more important, to ensure foreign corrupt practices do not spill back into New Zealand.
NZ’s lingering weak points
Several reports have laid out where New Zealand’s anti-corruption framework is falling short.
They point to the absence of a national anti-corruption strategy and a central agency.