Each of the four countries earned a score of 55 out of a possible 100 in this year's Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released by the Berlin-based Transparency International (TI) on Wednesday.
The annual TI report put South Korea 27th among 34 member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
In retrospect, South Korea ranked 39th in 2009 and 2010 in the TI's CPI, but dropped to 43rd in 2011, 45th in 2012 and 46th in 2013. Overall, the country's CPI has fallen for the past several years.
Singapore placed seventh with a score of 84 among 175 countries surveyed in the TI's 2014 CPI, becoming the highest-ranked Asian nation. Japan came in 15th with 76; Hong Kong, 17th with 74; Bhutan, 30th with 65; and Taiwan, 35th with 61. Mainland China was ranked 100th with a score of 36.
Denmark took the top spot with a score of 92, followed by New Zealand (91), Finland (89) and Sweden (87). Norway and Switzerland (86) were tied for fifth.
AJP
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