Progress on Corruption Varies 25 Years After Communism

A little more than 25 years after the fall of communism, post-communist states have achieved divergent results in the battle against corruption.

This chart, part of an upcoming study by Simeon Djankov and Owen Hauck, shows former Soviet states continue to lag behind Eastern Europe and the Balkan states in their rates of perceived corruption.¹ Uzbekistan, a former Soviet state, scores 1.8, the worst levels of corruption of the 29 countries that compose the three groups. Estonia, a Baltic state of just over 1 million, has a score of 7.0, ranking it as the best performer in the three groups and 23rd of 168 countries studied by Transparency International.

The study on the experiences of post-communist economies will explore why and how these divergences have developed.

Note

1. The Balkans group is comprised of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Albania. 
Former Soviet states include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Eastern Europe includes Croatia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.