Arguing that corruption continues to threaten development, TI's Chairman, Peter Eigen explained that:

“Corruption is a major cause of poverty as well as a barrier to overcoming it. The two scourges feed off each other, locking their populations in a cycle of misery. Corruption must be vigorously addressed if aid is to make a real difference in freeing people from poverty.”

Despite progress on many fronts, including the imminent entry into force of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, seventy countries - nearly half of those included in the Index - scored less than 3 on the CPI, indicating a severe corruption problem.

Among the countries included in the Index, corruption is perceived as most rampant in Chad, Bangladesh, Turkmenistan, Myanmar and Haiti – also among the poorest countries in the world.

The anti-corruption organisation argued that:

"Fighting corruption must be central to plans to increase resources to achieve the goals, whether via donor aid or in-country domestic action. Moreover, extensive research shows that foreign investment is lower in countries perceived to be corrupt, which further thwarts their chance to prosper. When countries improve governance and reduce corruption, they reap a “development dividend” that, according to the World Bank Institute, can include improved child mortality rates, higher per capita income and greater literacy."

According to the Transparency International figures, an increase in perceived corruption from 2004 to 2005 was measured in countries such as Costa Rica, Gabon, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Russia, the Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago and Uruguay.

Conversely, a number of countries and territories showed noteworthy improvements – a decline in perceptions of corruption – over the past year, including Estonia, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Qatar, Taiwan and Turkey.

The top five positions - countries perceived as the least corrupt by those surveyed - were occupied by Iceland in first place, Finland and New Zealand in joint second, Denmark in fourth place, and Singapore in fifth.