The annual Corruption Perceptions Index for 2012 has been released, and there is little surprise that South Africa hasn’t done very well.

But we save some face because Greece and Italy are more corrupt than we are.

Says the index:

Looking at the Corruption Perceptions Index 2012, it’s clear that corruption is a major threat facing humanity. Corruption destroys lives and communities, and undermines countries and institutions. It generates popular anger that threatens to further destabilise societies and exacerbate violent conflicts.

A country or territory’s score indicates the perceived level of public sector corruption.

Countries are ranked from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean), and while no country has a score of 0, two thirds of all the countries measured rank below 50 – basically, not good.

Denmark, Finland and New Zealand take the top spot for the least corrupt countries, while Somalia, North Korea and Afghanistan share the bottom position.

South Africa scored 43, and came in at position number 69, out of 176 countries.

You can read the full report and see the full list here.