As Transparency Serbia notes, the country’s position is 45 places worse than its best ranking achieved ten years ago, and for the first time it has been assessed as the worst-performing country in the region.
According to the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), Serbia ranks 116th out of a total of 182 countries and territories worldwide, marking its worst position over the past two decades, the organisation Transparency Serbia reported.
Serbia scored 33 points in this year’s ranking by the global organisation Transparency International, on a scale from zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very “clean”), which is two points lower than the previous year and also its lowest score since 2004.
Serbia’s result is nine points below the global average and 29 points below the EU average.
As Transparency Serbia notes, the country’s position is 45 places worse than its best ranking achieved ten years ago, and for the first time it has been assessed as the worst-performing country in the region.
Thus, Serbia has for the first time fallen behind Bosnia and Herzegovina (34), while across Europe only Belarus (31), Turkey (31), and Russia (22) rank lower.
At the top of the global ranking are Denmark (89) and Finland (88), while at the bottom are Somalia (9) and South Sudan (9).
In a regional statement, Transparency International notes that weak institutions and the decline of democracy foster corruption and restrict the space for civil society activity.
According to the organisation, in several Western Balkan countries, insufficient action by the judiciary is one of the main obstacles to successful anti-corruption efforts, while judges and prosecutors are increasingly becoming targets of attacks by other authorities.
As an illustration of this phenomenon in Serbia, the events surrounding the Prosecutor’s Office for Organised Crime are cited: “After investigating alleged abuses by members of the government, the Prosecutor’s Office for Organised Crime in Serbia has faced growing pressure, including government smear campaigns, obstruction of cooperation with the police, and legislative changes that weaken its ability to investigate organised crime and high-level corruption.”
The regional report also points to opaque decision-making regarding valuable public and private investments and gives as an example the “General Staff” case, in which the Serbian government, without applying competitive procedures, signed a secret contract with a foreign investor and unlawfully revoked the protected status of a cultural monument in order to allow the construction of a luxury hotel on the site.
In its global statement, Transparency International expressed concern over the worsening situation worldwide and the rise of corruption, even in stable democratic societies.
It is recalled that 2025 was marked by anti-corruption protests by young people (Generation Z), mostly in countries located in the lower half of the CPI ranking and whose indicators had stagnated or deteriorated in previous years.
“Corruption is not inevitable. Our research and the experience of the global anti-corruption movement show that mechanisms exist to hold governments accountable in the public interest—from democratic processes and independent oversight to a free and open civil society. At a time when we are witnessing a dangerous disregard for international norms by some states, we call on governments and leaders to act with integrity and fulfil their obligations in order to secure a better future for people around the world,” said the organisation’s president, François Valérian, during the presentation of the CPI 2025. | BGNES