Posts falsely claim Nigeria and Kenya are the least corrupt countries in

Social media users and public figures in Africa often make country comparisons to debate which nations are faring better and to score political points. A recent post on X claimed that Nigeria and Kenya ranked as the least corrupt countries in Africa. However, this claim is false: the Corruption Perception Index published by Transparency International ranks Nigeria as the 15th most corrupt country in Africa and Kenya as the 28th most corrupt country out of 180 nations. The findings are backed by other leading surveys.

“News update: Kenya and Nigeria ranked among the least corrupt countries in Africa,” read the X post, which has been shared more than 600 times since it was first published on October 12, 2024.

<span>Screenshot of the false post taken on October 22, 2024</span>” data-src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/kvkXXrkrVzZsXZmWUB7Gog–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTExNzg-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/afp_factcheck_us_713/543c90b1e16d3b74ca8a1138b87298db”><noscript><img alt= — Screenshot of the false post taken on October 22, 2024

The claim has also appeared elsewhere on X as well as Facebook (including here and here).

Corruption rankings

Different organisations have their specific methodology for computing corruption rankings for countries worldwide.

The Corruption Perception Index published by Transparency International, a civil society organisation, is one of the most extensive and covers 180 countries.

The index ranks countries based on perceived levels of public sector corruption using opinion surveys and expert assessments (archived here). Countries are scored between 0 (highly corrupt) and 100 (very clean).

In the 2023 ranking, Nigeria scored 25 out of 100, while Kenya scored 31 (archived here).

Transparency International ranked Somalia as the most corrupt country in Africa with a score of 11 while Seychelles was named the least corrupt country on the continent, scoring 71.

Between 2019 and 2023, Nigeria and Kenya have yet to score up to 50 points, which is the mid-point on the ranking.

<span>Chart showing Nigeria and Kenya’s overall score between 2019 and 2023. Source: Transparency International</span>” data-src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/36QYCfsjRCtRQYozYDesAA–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU4OA–/https://media.zenfs.com/en/afp_factcheck_us_713/73066db19ce180276723b1865a670586″><noscript><img alt= — Chart showing Nigeria and Kenya’s overall score between 2019 and 2023. Source: Transparency International

The Political Corruption Index by the Varieties of Democracy Institute, a research institute at Sweden’s University of Gothenburg, also ranks the incidences of corruption high in Nigeria and Kenya (archived here).

The index uses a score of between zero and one. Zero represents a low presence of political corruption and one indicates high political corruption.

In 2023, Nigeria scored 0.92 points while Kenya scored 0.52 points. The Institute again ranked Seychelles as the least corrupt country in Africa with a score of 0.05 points.

<span>Screenshot showing the Political corruption index scores of select African countries. Source: Our World in Data</span>” data-src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/E.sHwOhUrDlT6CcSFBS_FA–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU2Ng–/https://media.zenfs.com/en/afp_factcheck_us_713/d680bf532f142f23e737d48814fffabf”><noscript><img alt= — Screenshot showing the Political corruption index scores of select African countries. Source: Our World in Data

AFP Fact Check has debunked several claims on political issues across Africa here.

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