Qatar least corrupt country in Mideast Qatar has dramatically improved its standing in the current Corruption Perception Index (CPI) compared to last year, according to world corruption watchdog Transparency International. The country is ranked first among the least corrupt nations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Denmark, New Zealand and Sweden topped the list as the least corrupt countries with the highest score of 9.3. The corruption perception index measures the degree of corruption in a country taking into consideration the perceptions of business people and analysts. This year, 180 countries were rated from 0 to 10 wherein a grade of 10 means the country is perceived as free of corruption while a rating of 0 means the country is perceived as very corrupt. The annual survey by the Berlin-based watchdog put Qatar on the 28th position along with Spain and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines with a CPI score of 6.5. In the 2008 index, Qatar, South Korea and Turkey made significant progress in the fight against corruption. Qatar was up by four notches from its 32nd from year 2005 to 2007 to number 28 this year. In 2007 Qatar's CPI was 6.0 United Arab Emirates follows Qatar in the MENA region on 35th place on world report with CPI score of 5.9. With a 5.5 rating, Oman is in 41st position while Bahrain got 5.4 to land on the 43rd position tying with Macao. Jordan is ranked 47th with CPI of 5.1. Kuwait is in the 65th spot with a rating of 4.3 along with Cuba. Saudi Arabia comes last in the GCC region on the 80th place with a score of 3.5 along with Morocco, Brazil, Thailand and Burkina Faso. Countries that received the lowest rating were, Iraq and Myanmar (1.3) and Somalia (1.0), which is at the bottom of the table for the second year. At the bottom of the transparency table, along with Somalia and Iraq, are Haiti, Afghanistan and Sudan. The US, in 18th place with a score of 7.3 points, still ranks among the lowest industrial countries. The Pen

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