Estonia 26th on corruption index

BERLIN -- Estonia has been ranked 26th on Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index 2010, by far the best ranking of the three Baltic States.

Estonia was one position below France and one ahead of Slovenia. Latvia, by contrast, was ranked in 59th place - tied with Tunisia and Slovakia. Lithuania ranked in 46th place, on par with Macau and two places below neighboring Poland.

Despite Estonia's strong ranking with a score of 6.5, it had fallen by 0.1 point from last year's score. Latvia's score fell by 0.2 points, while Lithuania's increased by 0.1.

The corruption perception index ranks countries according to "the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians". It defines corruption as "the abuse of entrusted power for private gain".

Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore were tied for first place on this year's index, followed by Finland and Sweden. In last place was Somalia, followed by Myanmar and Afghanistan.