New Zealand Least Corrupt Country in the World in Most Recent Corruption Perceptions Index

New Zealand has come out on top in Transparency International's most recent Corruption Perceptions Index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption.

The index uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean. The CPI generally defines corruption as "the misuse of public power for private benefit."

Figures have been released since 1995, and according to Transparency International, further analysis of the results indicates that countries with the least protection for press and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) also tend to have the worst rates of corruption.

Every week at least one journalist is killed in a country that is highly corrupt. 

The analysis, which incorporates data from the Committee to Protect Journalists, shows that of all journalists who were killed in the last six years, more than 9 out of 10 were killed in countries that score 45 or less on the index.