Africa’s K — Kickbacks

In societies with a lot of corruption, only the rich — who are in a position to ship their ill-gotten gains offshore — tend to benefit.

Once a year, Transparency International, the world's leading anti-corruption NGO, compiles scores that measure corruption.

In 2004, 146 countries were assessed. According to this index, there was less corruption in Botswana than in Italy — and less in Namibia than in Croatia or Poland.

South Africa and Mauritius also ranked above average. But many African countries are near the bottom of the list. Half of the ten most corrupt countries — according to this measure — are in Africa.