Summary

The results of the BPI 2006 show that there is a relatively small range of scores, with Switzerland ranking first at 7.81 and India at the bottom with a score of 4.62. Therefore, with all countries falling well short of a perfect score of 10, the results show a considerable propensity for companies of all nationalities to bribe when operating abroad.

Nonetheless, the cluster analysis highlights the particularly poor performance of the lower two clusters of countries. Cluster 3 comprises Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, South Africa and Malaysia. Cluster 4, the worst group of countries according to the BPI 2006, comprises Taiwan, Turkey, Russia, China and India.

Analysis has shown that companies from the 30 countries ranked in the BPI 2006 exhibit a different propensity to bribe in different areas of the world. While companies from most countries perform considerably better in OECD countries than the full sample, companies from the 30 countries are far more likely to resort to bribery when working in Low Income Countries and in Africa.

The rankings of the CPI 2005 and BPI 2006 are closely correlated. Although the indices consider different aspects of corruption, countries that perform poorly on the CPI rank among the worst on the BPI. The same trend can be seen with the better performers.