Corruption levels vary widely across Southeast Asia. In the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), Singapore recorded the region’s highest score at 84, while Myanmar ranked at the bottom with just 16.
Transparency International released the index on February 2026 to measure perceived corruption in the public sector, based on assessments by experts and businesspeople. Scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating lower perceived levels of corruption.
Of the 11 Southeast Asian countries covered, only Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, and Malaysia scored above 50. Most countries in the region remained below the global average, which fell to 42 this year.
Singapore Leads the Region
Singapore scored 84 and ranked third among 182 countries worldwide. Brunei Darussalam followed with 63, while Malaysia recorded 52.
Timor-Leste scored 44, slightly above the global average but below the Asia-Pacific average of 45, while Viet Nam stood at 41. Further down the list, Indonesia and Laos both scored 34, followed by Thailand at 33, the Philippines at 32, Cambodia at 20, and Myanmar at 16.
The gap between Singapore and Myanmar therefore stands at 68 points. Transparency International places Myanmar alongside Afghanistan, which also scored 16, among the fragile states that continue to rank at the bottom of the index.
Corruption Trends Shift Across the Asia-Pacific
The differences are not limited to the 2025 results. Some countries have been moving in different directions over more than a decade.
Across the Asia-Pacific region, eight countries have recorded significant improvements since 2012. Brunei Darussalam and Laos are among them, although their current scores remain far apart at 63 and 34, respectively. Viet Nam and Timor-Leste have also shown consistent and statistically significant improvements since 2012.
Thailand, however, has moved in the opposite direction. With a score of 33, it is identified as having a consistent downward trend since 2012.
Countries With Open Civic Space Score Higher
The 2025 CPI also highlights events in countries with lower scores across the region. In the Philippines, Transparency International points to public anger over allegations that funds were lost through a fake flood-relief project.
Indonesia, meanwhile, scored 34, with the report noting that anti-government protests in 2025 were met with violence and disinformation, leaving 12 people dead and hundreds injured. It also cites political pressure on non-governmental organisations in Indonesia, referring to the 2017 amendment to the Law on Mass Organisations.
These examples fit a broader global pattern in the index. Countries classified as full democracies have an average CPI score of 71, compared with 47 for flawed democracies and 32 for non-democratic regimes. Countries with “open” civic space also score higher on average, at 68, compared with 30 for those with “closed” civic space.
Meanwhile, the global average fell to 42 in 2025, its first decline in more than a decade, with more than two-thirds of the 182 countries assessed scoring below 50.
