Pakistan’s score on the Corruption Perceptions Index has risen by one point, but a closer examination of the numbers and methods raises important questions about what the ranking actually shows. Transparency International’s 2025 CPI gave Pakistan a score of 28 out of 100, placing it 136th among 182 countries. The previous year the score was 27 and the rank 135th among 180 nations. The score improved while the numerical rank slipped by one place.
Transparency International stresses that scores matter more than ranks because changes in the number of countries assessed can shift positions. The IMF has noted that every one-point improvement in the CPI is associated with a 4 percent increase in a country’s investment rate. While this is an association rather than direct proof, the link underlines why governance indicators attract attention from investors and international institutions.
Pakistan’s CPI score does not come from a survey of ordinary citizens. It draws on eight external data sources that measure perceived public-sector corruption among experts and businesspeople. Five of those source scores stayed the same, two declined slightly, and only the V-Dem indicator rose sharply by five points. That single increase accounts for nearly all of the visible improvement.
The eight sources use very different methods. Some rely on executive surveys, others on expert coding, risk assessments or institutional reviews. They cover different time periods and levels of public disclosure. After standardisation, each source receives equal weight in the final score. This raises a basic question about whether assessments built on such different evidence should carry identical arithmetic weight.
Domestic surveys paint a more mixed picture. Transparency International Pakistan’s own National Corruption Perception Survey and a separate Ipsos-FPCCI study show clear gaps between what people believe about corruption and what they report experiencing personally. Many citizens see bribery and nepotism as common, yet fewer say they have faced these problems themselves.
The CPI remains a perception-based indicator, not an audit of actual corruption. It does not measure private-sector wrongdoing, illicit financial flows or everyday citizen experiences. Pakistan’s score has stayed within a narrow band for several years, and the latest one-point rise is not considered statistically significant. The real issue is how much of the underlying evidence can be independently checked and how closely international perceptions match the lived reality of people in Pakistan.
