India has been ranked 81st on the global corruption perception index 2017, in terms of graft and press freedom in the Asia-Pacific region, as per a report released by Transparency International (TI).
The index ranks a total of 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption. India was ranked 79th last year.
The index uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean. India's score in the latest ranking is 40, which was the same in last year. In 2015, the score was 38.
TI said in a statement, "In some countries across the region (Asia Pacific), journalists, activists, Opposition leaders and even staff of law enforcement or watchdog agencies are threatened, and in the worst cases, even murdered."
"Philippines, India and the Maldives are among the worst regional offenders in this respect. These countries score high for corruption and have fewer press freedoms and a higher number of journalist deaths," it added.
In the last six years, fifteen journalists working on corruption stories in these countries were murdered, as reported by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
In the latest ranking, New Zealand and Denmark occupied the first two spots at the top of the index, with scores of 89 and 88 respectively.
On the other hand, Syria (178th), South Sudan (179th) and Somalia (180th) were ranked the lowest in the index, with scores of 14, 12 and nine.
Among other South Asian countries, Bhutan fared the best with a ranking of 26th.
Other countries include Pakistan (117th), Afghanistan (177th), Nepal (122th), Myanmar (130th), Bangladesh (143rd), the Maldives (112th) and Sri Lanka (91st).
China fared a bit better than India and was ranked 77th, with a score of 41.
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