Bhutan in the Corruption Perceptions Index

The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), published annually by Transparency International, is the most widely cited cross-country measure of public-sector corruption. Bhutan has been covered by the index since 2003 and has, throughout that period, ranked as the highest-scoring country in South Asia by a substantial margin. In the 2024 index, released in February 2025, Bhutan scored 72 out of 100 and ranked 18th out of 180 countries assessed, its strongest performance since the index in its current methodology was launched in 2012.^[1]

Bhutan's standing in the index is frequently cited by the Anti-Corruption Commission and by senior government officials as evidence that the country's governance institutions are functioning effectively, and the score is regularly compared with the markedly lower CPI results of all of Bhutan's South Asian neighbours. Independent analysts have also noted that the CPI has well-known methodological limitations — it is a perceptions-based composite, it draws on a small number of source surveys for small countries, and it cannot detect corruption that does not surface in elite expert opinion — which apply to Bhutan as much as to any other country.

Methodology

The CPI ranks countries on a 0–100 scale, with 100 representing the perception of a country with no public-sector corruption and 0 representing high perceived corruption. The index is a composite of underlying data sources — typically between 8 and 13 expert and business surveys for any given country — that are standardised and aggregated into a single score. For each country only sources covering that economy contribute to its score, and the published rank is sensitive both to the country's own score and to the scores of competitors.

For Bhutan in 2024, four source surveys were used: the World Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment, IHS Markit's Global Insight Country Risk Ratings, the Bertelsmann Foundation Transformation Index and the Varieties of Democracy Project. The component scores ranged from 66 (V-Dem) to 75 (CPIA), giving an aggregate of 72 with a 90 per cent confidence interval of 69.31 to 74.69.^[2]

Bhutan's scores over time

From the introduction of the current 0–100 scale in 2012, Bhutan's score remained close to 65 in the early years of the decade and then plateaued at 68 from 2018 through 2023, with corresponding ranks in the 24th-to-26th position globally. The 2024 result of 72 represents the largest year-on-year improvement in the country's CPI history. Transparency International has identified Bhutan's 2012-to-2024 trajectory as one of a small number of "statistically significant" improvements globally over that period.

Year	Score (0-100)	Global rank	Asia-Pacific rank
2012	63	33	—
2015	65	27	—
2018	68	25	6
2020	68	24	6
2022	68	25	6
2023	68	26	6
2024	72	18	5

South Asian comparison

The gap between Bhutan and its South Asian neighbours has been a persistent feature of every CPI release. In 2024 the regional results placed Bhutan at 72, and all other South Asian states well below the global average of 43: India at 38 (rank 96), the Maldives at 38 (96), Nepal at 34 (107), Sri Lanka at 32 (121), Pakistan at 27 (135), Bangladesh at 23 (151) and Afghanistan at 17 (165).^[3]

Officials and commentators in Bhutan typically attribute the country's relative standing to four factors: the small scale of the public administration, the centralising authority of the monarchy and the resulting political pressure for clean governance, the existence of a constitutionally entrenched Anti-Corruption Commission with investigative powers, and the early adoption of a comprehensive Anti-Corruption Act in 2006 (replaced and strengthened in 2011).

Criticisms and limitations

The CPI has been the subject of methodological criticism for as long as it has existed, and several of those critiques apply with particular force to small economies like Bhutan. Because the index relies on perceptions held by a relatively small group of international experts and business analysts, it can lag the reality on the ground in either direction. It is poorly suited to detecting forms of corruption that do not appear in elite analytical reporting — for example, low-level rent-seeking in the delivery of public services — and tends to reward stable, hierarchical political systems where overt scandals are rare regardless of the actual quality of institutional accountability.

For Bhutan specifically, the country's CPI score is generated from a smaller number of source surveys than larger economies, which makes year-to-year comparisons less robust and means that the addition or removal of a single source can move the headline number significantly. Domestic analysis published by the Anti-Corruption Commission and by independent researchers has also pointed out that the country's high CPI score sits alongside more mixed performance on related indicators — such as press freedom and voice and accountability — where Bhutan ranks markedly lower internationally. The headline ranking, in other words, captures the perceived absence of corruption far better than it captures the broader strength of accountability mechanisms.^[4]

References

1. Corruption Perceptions Index 2024 — Transparency International
2. "Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index 2024" — Anti-Corruption Commission of Bhutan
3. "Bhutan rises to 18th spot of least corrupt countries in the world" — Asia News Network
4. Corruption in Bhutan — Wikipedia
5. Bhutan: Transparency International CPI historical data — TheGlobalEconomy.com