Nearly 3 billion people ñhalf the world—are living on less than $2.00 US per day. Not surprisingly, nearly a billion of these people are chronically undernourished, thirty thousand children die poverty-related deaths per day, more than a billion people have no access to safe drinking water, and millions per year die of diseases which could have been prevented by vaccines. A common denominator of this grinding poverty is widespread local corruption, which the 2006 Corruptions Perception Index says is “rampant’ in 71 countries.

The index, prepared annually by Berlin-based anti-corruption movement Transparency International, details public sector corruption ratings in 163 nations. Their findings are a result of nine independent organizations surveying thousands of country analysts and members of the global business community to determine the extent of perceived corruption in these countries.

According to the index, Finland, Iceland and New Zealand are the world’s least corrupt nations. Haiti has been named as the most corrupt, followed closely by Myanmar and Iraq. Ratings in several countries have worsened over previous years, including the United States, Tunisia and Israel. Among those who significantly improved their ratings over 2005 are India, Japan, Lebanon and Turkey.

Transparency International hopes the study will raise awareness of the fact that corruption is a serious problem with dire consequences. Businesses, for example, operate on increased risk, which decreases investment returns. But the most pronounced effect is on ordinary citizens who frequently live in devastating poverty due to corruption. Even basic goods and services can be difficult to attain without paying bribes, and already-limited resources are often expropriated by corrupt decision-makers.

Several leaders claim to be working towards cleaning up their corruption records, including Malaysia, Croatia and Ghana, rated 44th, 69th and 70th, respectively, as most corrupt on the index.

Claims aside, Ethical Travelers may find the study a useful source when deciding where and how to spend their time and money.