The Americas have demonstrated negligible advancement in combating systemic corruption throughout 2025, according to the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) published by Transparency International. The comprehensive assessment of 182 global territories reveals a troubling regional stagnation, with Venezuela and Nicaragua maintaining their positions among the world’s most corrupt nations while the United States recorded its poorest performance in the index’s history.
The regional evaluation averaged a concerning score of 42 out of 100 possible points across American nations. Transparency International’s analysis indicates a disturbing backward trend, with 12 of the region’s 33 countries experiencing measurable deterioration since 2012. The organization attributes this regression to governmental inaction, the systematic weakening of democratic institutions, and the expanding footprint of transnational organized crime networks. Among the few bright spots, the Dominican Republic (37) and Guyana (40) demonstrated marginal improvements, each gaining a single point in their annual assessment.
Canada (75), Uruguay (73), and Barbados (68) emerged as regional leaders in transparency standards, though the report cautioned that even these established democracies confront corruption-related violence and limited anti-graft progress. Conversely, Venezuela (10), Nicaragua (14), and Haiti (16) occupied the bottom positions, characterized by authoritarian repression, institutional collapse, and deeply embedded corrupt practices. Venezuela’s performance ranked among the three worst globally, exceeded only by Somalia and South Sudan.
Particularly alarming was the continued deterioration of the United States, which scored 64 points—marking a one-point decline from the previous year and a substantial 12-point drop since 2015. Transparency International identified assaults on judicial independence, weakened enforcement of anti-corruption legislation, and reductions in international aid programs as primary contributing factors. Throughout the hemisphere, corruption persists in undermining essential public services, constricting civic freedoms, and eroding institutional accountability, generating severe consequences for citizens’ daily living conditions.