Bangladesh is the 14th corrupt country among 175 countries across the world, according to Transparency International's global corruption index. 

Bangladesh has scored 25 points out of 100, with Papua New Guinea, Lous, Keniya, Guinea are in same position and two points less from 27 last year when it became 16th in the corruption perception index, which shows the upward trend of corruption in Bangladesh again.

In the index, Somalia is the most corrupted country while Denmark is the lowest in corruption ranking.

Transparency International issues an annual report measuring perceptions of graft rather than actual levels given the secrecy surrounding most corrupt dealings. It uses a scale where 100 stands for the most clean and 0 for the most corrupt.

The Berlin-based organization published its 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index of 175 countries on Wednesday. Besides, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Executive Director Iftekhar-uz-zaman disclosed the report at a press conference held at National Press Club in the capital in the morning.

According to the report, Bangladesh dropped off in the graft index as the country could not fulfilled its promises towards curbing corruptions. The country stood 145th among 175 countries, which is nine notches lower than the last year’s 136 across the world based on corruption perception index.

Index showed Turkey's record had worsened the most precipitously in 2014, dropping by five points to 45.

China's rating fell by four points to 36, even though the Beijing Communist government has launched a concerted campaign to weed out venal officials, the TI report said.

Beijing's low score matched a poor performance by Chinese companies in the watchdog's recent report on corporate disclosure practice.

"Grand corruption in big economies not only blocks basic human rights for the poorest but also creates governance problems and instability," TI Chairman Jose Ugaz said in a statement in the report.

It urged states ranked at the bottom of the index to take radical anti-graft steps in their people's interest. "Countries at the top of the index should make sure they don't export corrupt practices to underdeveloped countries," Ugaz said.

Corruption undermines economic growth and efforts to stop graft tend to fade when even high level officials abuse their power to embezzle public funds for personal gain, he said.

More than two thirds of the 175 countries in the index including Bangladesh scored below 50 with Somalia, North Korea, Sudan, Afghanistan and South Sudan once again at the bottom.

The top performer was again Denmark with 92 points, a rise of one from last year, and New Zealand, Finland, Sweden and Norway again rounded out the top five.

Ukraine (26 points) remained the European country with the highest perceived level of graft. Italy, Greece and Romania (43) jointly scored the worst among the European Union member states.

TF/QH