Iceland gets top score of 163 countries included in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2006 and leads for the third year in low corruption.

This year Iceland shares the first place and score of 9.6 with Finland and New Zealand. As last year all the Nordic countries are among top eight confirming their professional and transparent public administration.

The 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index is a composite index that draws on multiple expert opinion surveys that poll perceptions of public sector corruption in 163 countries around the world, the greatest scope of any CPI to date. It scores countries on a scale from zero to ten, with zero indicating high levels of perceived corruption and ten indicating low levels of perceived corruption.

Ranking 1-20 and score:

1.  Finland  9.6
1.  Iceland  9.6
1.  New Zealand  9.6
4.  Denmark  9.5
5.  Singapore  9.4
6.  Sweden  9.2
7.  Switzerland  9.1
8.  Norway  8.8
9.  Australia  8.7
9.  Netherlands  8.7
11.  Austria  8.6
11.  Luxembourg  8.6
11.  United Kingdom  8.6
14.  Canada  8.5
15.  Hong Kong  8.3
16.  Germany  8.0
17.  Japan  7.6
18.  France  7.4
18.  Ireland  7.4
20.  Belgium  7.3
20.  Chile  7.3
20.  USA  7.3

For full index listing and further information please visit the Transparency International web site.