Jamaica’s position on the Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) has dropped four places for 2024.

The country now ranks 73rd out of 180 countries, compared to 69th in 2023.

The CPI was released at 12:01 this morning.

Meanwhile, Jamaica’s 2023 CPI score of 44 out of 100 remained unchanged for 2024.

A score of 0 represents “highly corrupt,” while 100 indicates “very clean.”

Jamaica’s score of 44 remains the country’s best ever on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), a feat previously attained in 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

A CPI score below 50 indicates that a country has a serious corruption problem.

Jamaica has been firmly placed in this category for 23 years.

A poor CPI signals prevalent bribery, lack of punishment for corruption and public institutions that fail to respond to citizens’ needs.

In its summary overview, the Integrity Commission notes that according to Transparency International, the CPI “highlights the stark contrast between nations with strong, independent institutions and free, fair elections and those with repressive authoritarian regimes.”

It further explains that “full democracies have a CPI average of 73, while flawed democracies average 47, and non-democratic regimes average just 33.”

This places Jamaica in the category of a “flawed democracy.”

Jamaica is among nine English-speaking Caribbean countries ranked.

Barbados is ranked the least corrupt at 23rd out of 180 countries followed by The Bahamas, St. Vincent, Dominica, St. Lucia and Grenada.

Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana are the only countries on the list with consistently poor sub-50 CPI scores over the years.