Denmark is the least corrupt country in the world, followed by New Zealand, Finland and Sweden, according to the 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index by graft watchdog Transparency International.

North Korea and Somalia were ranked last, while the situation is worsening in several conflict-torn countries, including Iraq and Syria.

China’s score also fell by four points, despite its crackdown on corrupt “tigers” and “flies” in public administration.

Denmark, at the top of the index again and up one point, with a strong rule of law, support for civil society and clear rules governing the behaviour of those in public positions, also set an example when it recently announced plans to create a public register including beneficial ownership information of all companies incorporated in Denmark. Two other Nordic countries, all relatively very strong performers on the index, nevertheless either saw some decline (Sweden down two points), or were flat as in Finland.

“The 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index shows that economic growth is undermined and efforts to stop corruption fade when leaders and high level officials abuse power to appropriate public funds for personal gain,” said José Ugaz, the chair of Transparency International.

“Corrupt officials smuggle ill-gotten assets into safe havens through offshore companies with absolute impunity,” Ugaz added. “Countries at the bottom need to adopt radical anti-corruption measures in favour of their people. Countries at the top of the index should make sure they don’t export corrupt practices to underdeveloped countries.”

The Corruption Perception Index aggregates data from 12 data sources to measure the level of perceived public sector corruption in 175 countries. The index scores each country on a scale of 0 to 100, with zero indicating a “highly corrupt” public sector and 100 indicating a “very clean” one. (Click here to see an interactive map of the index.)