placestats

Corruption Perceptions Index vs. Electricity use per person

Fades after adjusting for income

Across 175 countries, Corruption Perceptions Index and Electricity use per person rise and fall together at r = +0.58 (on a scale from −1 to +1, where 0 means no link). Comparing only countries with similar income (GDP per person) shrinks it to +0.25, which could easily be chance (q = 0.11, allowing for the many pairs tested, and allowing for countries in the same region being alike). So the first figure mostly shows richer countries differing from poorer ones, not a link between these two things.

Comparing countries across the middle half of corruption perceptions index, 30 to 57 points, electricity use per person is 4,646 kWh per person higher at the top of that range than the bottom. Comparing only countries with similar national income, the gap is 2,157 kWh per person.

Link before adjusting (r)+0.579p = 4.8e-17 · 175 countries
After adjusting for national income+0.246p = 0.001 · likely range [+0.10, +0.38]
p, allowing for regions0.022standard error 0.080 · 7 regions
Check for luck (q)0.110across 13,797 pairs

How to read these.r runs from −1 (one goes up as the other goes down) to +1 (they rise together), and 0 means no link. Adjusting for national income means comparing countries with the same GDP per person, so differences in wealth can’t explain the link. Income is used in percentage terms, since an extra $1,000 means more to a poor country than to a rich one. p is how likely a link this strong would be if there were really none. Below 0.05 means it is unlikely to be chance. Very small values are written in short form: 1.1e-32 means a decimal point followed by 31 zeros and then 11, so very close to zero. The likely range is where the true figure probably lies, and a range that crosses zero means the link could easily be chance. Countries in the same region tend to resemble each other, so the third figure allows for that, which gives a fairer p. The standard error is the typical size of the error in r. Finally, testing this many pairs means some will look strong by luck alone. A q below 0.05 means this link is unlikely to be one of those.

Corruption Perceptions Index · index (0-100, higher = cleaner)link with income +0.72 · high
Electricity use per person · kWh per personlink with income +0.93 · proxy

Both of these rise and fall closely with national income, so a strong link between them before adjusting was close to certain. Read the adjusted figure, not the first one.

“Link with income” is how closely each measure tracks GDP per person across countries, from −1 to +1.

Every country as a dot

Corruption Perceptions Index · index (0-100, higher = cleaner) →Electricity use per person · kWh per person →99018.248,424Afghanistan: 17 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 160 kWh per personAngola: 32 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 411 kWh per personAlbania: 42 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 3,106 kWh per personUnited Arab Emirates: 68 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 16,053 kWh per personArgentina: 37 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 3,543 kWh per personArmenia: 47 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 2,757 kWh per personAustralia: 77 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 10,615 kWh per personAustria: 67 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 8,322 kWh per personAzerbaijan: 22 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 2,613 kWh per personBurundi: 17 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 40.6 kWh per personBelgium: 69 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 7,361 kWh per personBenin: 45 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 160 kWh per personBurkina Faso: 41 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 135 kWh per personBangladesh: 23 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 672 kWh per personBulgaria: 43 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 5,440 kWh per personBahrain: 53 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 23,919 kWh per personBahamas, The: 65 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 5,607 kWh per personBosnia and Herzegovina: 33 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 4,599 kWh per personBelarus: 33 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 5,054 kWh per personBolivia: 28 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 1,083 kWh per personBrazil: 34 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 3,581 kWh per personBarbados: 68 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 3,930 kWh per personBrunei Darussalam: 60 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 12,016 kWh per personBhutan: 72 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 15,742 kWh per personBotswana: 57 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 1,852 kWh per personCentral African Republic: 24 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 27.2 kWh per personCanada: 75 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 16,090 kWh per personSwitzerland: 81 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 7,262 kWh per personChile: 63 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 4,456 kWh per personChina: 43 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 7,460 kWh per personCote d'Ivoire: 45 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 315 kWh per personCameroon: 26 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 251 kWh per personCongo, Dem. Rep.: 20 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 159 kWh per personCongo, Rep.: 23 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 850 kWh per personColombia: 39 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 1,715 kWh per personComoros: 21 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 165 kWh per personCabo Verde: 62 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 991 kWh per personCosta Rica: 58 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 2,416 kWh per personCyprus: 56 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 4,311 kWh per personCzechia: 56 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 6,413 kWh per personGermany: 75 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 6,188 kWh per personDjibouti: 31 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 685 kWh per personDominica: 60 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 2,255 kWh per personDenmark: 90 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 6,775 kWh per personDominican Republic: 36 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 1,969 kWh per personAlgeria: 34 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 2,005 kWh per personEcuador: 32 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 2,003 kWh per personEgypt, Arab Rep.: 30 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 2,064 kWh per personSpain: 56 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 5,744 kWh per personEstonia: 76 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 6,948 kWh per personEthiopia: 37 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 229 kWh per personFinland: 88 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 15,610 kWh per personFiji: 55 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 1,238 kWh per personFrance: 67 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 7,152 kWh per personGabon: 27 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 1,252 kWh per personUnited Kingdom: 71 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 4,621 kWh per personGeorgia: 53 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 3,862 kWh per personGhana: 42 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 634 kWh per personGuinea: 28 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 273 kWh per personGambia, The: 38 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 185 kWh per personGuinea-Bissau: 21 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 36.3 kWh per personEquatorial Guinea: 13 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 787 kWh per personGreece: 49 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 5,590 kWh per personGrenada: 56 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 2,047 kWh per personGuatemala: 25 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 888 kWh per personGuyana: 39 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 1,660 kWh per personHong Kong SAR, China: 74 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 6,583 kWh per personHonduras: 22 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 1,167 kWh per personCroatia: 47 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 5,210 kWh per personHaiti: 16 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 73.1 kWh per personHungary: 41 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 5,077 kWh per personIndonesia: 37 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 1,314 kWh per personIndia: 38 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 1,423 kWh per personIreland: 77 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 7,091 kWh per personIran, Islamic Rep.: 23 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 4,281 kWh per personIraq: 26 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 3,406 kWh per personIceland: 77 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 48,424 kWh per personIsrael: 64 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 7,954 kWh per personItaly: 54 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 5,268 kWh per personJamaica: 44 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 1,733 kWh per personJordan: 49 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 2,054 kWh per personJapan: 71 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 8,366 kWh per personKazakhstan: 40 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 6,050 kWh per personKenya: 32 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 271 kWh per personKyrgyz Republic: 25 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 2,647 kWh per personCambodia: 21 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 1,254 kWh per personKorea, Rep.: 64 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 12,090 kWh per personKuwait: 46 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 18,402 kWh per personLao PDR: 33 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 2,009 kWh per personLebanon: 22 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 920 kWh per personLiberia: 27 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 102 kWh per personLibya: 13 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 4,686 kWh per personSt. Lucia: 59 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 2,225 kWh per personSri Lanka: 32 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 743 kWh per personLesotho: 37 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 248 kWh per personLithuania: 63 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 4,353 kWh per personLuxembourg: 81 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 9,846 kWh per personLatvia: 59 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 4,057 kWh per personMorocco: 37 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 1,255 kWh per personMoldova: 43 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 2,059 kWh per personMadagascar: 26 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 76 kWh per personMaldives: 38 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 1,610 kWh per personMexico: 26 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 2,703 kWh per personNorth Macedonia: 40 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 4,604 kWh per personMali: 27 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 223 kWh per personMalta: 46 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 5,922 kWh per personMyanmar: 16 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 402 kWh per personMontenegro: 46 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 6,859 kWh per personMongolia: 33 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 3,528 kWh per personMozambique: 25 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 476 kWh per personMauritania: 30 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 458 kWh per personMauritius: 51 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 2,683 kWh per personMalawi: 34 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 83.6 kWh per personMalaysia: 50 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 5,556 kWh per personNamibia: 49 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 1,333 kWh per personNiger: 34 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 79.5 kWh per personNigeria: 26 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 165 kWh per personNicaragua: 14 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 784 kWh per personNetherlands: 78 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 6,601 kWh per personNorway: 81 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 24,490 kWh per personNepal: 34 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 372 kWh per personNew Zealand: 83 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 8,252 kWh per personOman: 55 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 9,617 kWh per personPakistan: 27 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 766 kWh per personPanama: 33 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 2,943 kWh per personPeru: 31 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 1,749 kWh per personPhilippines: 33 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 1,054 kWh per personPapua New Guinea: 31 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 447 kWh per personPoland: 53 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 4,570 kWh per personPuerto Rico (US): 63 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 6,265 kWh per personPortugal: 57 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 5,805 kWh per personParaguay: 24 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 4,228 kWh per personQatar: 59 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 18,030 kWh per personRomania: 46 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 2,876 kWh per personRussian Federation: 22 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 8,168 kWh per personRwanda: 57 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 85.6 kWh per personSaudi Arabia: 59 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 13,385 kWh per personSudan: 15 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 309 kWh per personSenegal: 45 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 439 kWh per personSingapore: 84 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 10,295 kWh per personSolomon Islands: 43 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 134 kWh per personSierra Leone: 33 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 24.3 kWh per personEl Salvador: 30 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 985 kWh per personSomalia, Fed. Rep.: 9 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 22.6 kWh per personSerbia: 35 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 5,591 kWh per personSao Tome and Principe: 45 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 390 kWh per personSuriname: 40 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 2,743 kWh per personSlovak Republic: 49 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 4,886 kWh per personSlovenia: 60 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 6,759 kWh per personSweden: 80 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 12,866 kWh per personEswatini: 27 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 1,328 kWh per personSeychelles: 72 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 4,830 kWh per personSyrian Arab Republic: 12 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 984 kWh per personChad: 21 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 18.2 kWh per personTogo: 32 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 263 kWh per personThailand: 34 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 3,143 kWh per personTajikistan: 19 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 1,805 kWh per personTurkmenistan: 17 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 3,204 kWh per personTimor-Leste: 44 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 364 kWh per personTrinidad and Tobago: 41 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 6,334 kWh per personTunisia: 39 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 2,016 kWh per personTurkiye: 34 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 4,014 kWh per personTanzania: 41 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 132 kWh per personUganda: 26 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 107 kWh per personUkraine: 35 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 2,719 kWh per personUruguay: 76 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 4,358 kWh per personUnited States: 65 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 13,061 kWh per personUzbekistan: 32 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 2,419 kWh per personSt. Vincent and the Grenadines: 63 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 1,491 kWh per personViet Nam: 40 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 3,087 kWh per personVanuatu: 50 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 250 kWh per personKosovo: 44 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 4,420 kWh per personSouth Africa: 41 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 3,658 kWh per personZambia: 39 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 779 kWh per personZimbabwe: 21 index (0-100, higher = cleaner), 727 kWh per personBHRCPVDNKFINGNQISLKWTNORSOMSYRURY

best-fit line line after adjusting

Four ways to measure the link

MethodrpCountries
Standard (Pearson), not adjusted+0.5794.8e-17175
By rank (Spearman), not adjusted+0.6751.3e-24175
Standard (Pearson), adjusted for national income+0.2460.001175
By rank (Spearman), adjusted for national income+0.0250.745175

The rank version uses only each country’s place in line, from lowest to highest, so a few extreme countries count for less. The adjusted and unadjusted versions use the same 175 countries: those that report both measures and GDP per person. So the gap between them comes from the adjustment, not from a change in which countries are counted. Drop in the size of r after adjusting: +0.333 (a minus sign means it grew).

How solid is it?

Leaving out one country at a time, r ranges from +0.222 (without BTN) to +0.266 (without BHR). The bar above shows that range on a scale from −1 to +1, with the solid line at the full result. The single country that moves r most: BTN (-0.024).

Within each region

Countries are not separate, unrelated cases, and neighbors share a lot. A link that holds inside each region is far more believable than one that shows up only when comparing regions.

nr
East Asia & Pacific22+0.29
Europe & Central Asia49+0.23
Latin America & Caribbean29+0.27
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan21+0.08
Sub-Saharan Africa46+0.25

By income third

If the link shows up only in the richest third of countries, it is a feature of rich countries, not a general pattern.

nr
Poorest third59-0.26
Middle third58+0.21
Richest third58+0.14

By largest religious group

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
Christians104+0.30
Muslims49+0.30

By last european coloniser

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
France25+0.02
Never a European colony21+0.53
Spain19+0.30
United Kingdom55+0.12

Without outliers (countries far outside the middle half of countries on either measure, by more than one and a half times the width of that middle half): r = +0.269 after dropping 11 countries.

Two series, one country

Both measures over the years for one country you pick. The two charts are stacked so they share only the years along the bottom.

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Over time, within countries

Everything above compares countries with each other at one moment. This section compares each country only with itself over 13years. So a link here can’t come from anything about a country that stays the same, such as its history, geography, institutions or culture.

The link shows up within countries over time (r = +0.138) but mostly disappears in year-to-year changes (r = +0.034). That points to slow trends particular to each country, not the two measures moving together from year to year.

Across countries (adjusted)+0.246for comparison
Within countries+0.136each country vs itself
…and vs the same year elsewhere+0.138q = 0.011 · 180 countries
Year-on-year changes+0.034q = 0.449
Read with care.
  • Almost all of this indicator's variation is between countries, not within them, so the within-country estimate rests on a small part of the data.

2,298 country-years (one country in one year), 180 countries, 2012–2024, about 13 years each on average. Share of the variation that happens within countries over time: 2% for Corruption Perceptions Index, 1% for Electricity use per person. The margins of error allow for each country appearing many times, and for each year’s value being close to the year before.

Year-to-year changes are a cautious test, not a final answer. Looking only at changes from one year to the next removes each country’s own trends. But it also makes measurement mistakes louder, which pulls the results toward zero. A near-zero result here is weak evidence of no link, not proof.

With one measure years behind the other

0.20−0.2-100+9years Electricity use per person trails Corruption Perceptions Index →lag -10: r = -0.002 (n = 2,289)lag -9: r = 0.011 (n = 2,291)lag -8: r = 0.017 (n = 2,297)lag -7: r = 0.025 (n = 2,299)lag -6: r = 0.035 (n = 2,300)lag -5: r = 0.079 (n = 2,301)lag -4: r = 0.155 (n = 2,302)lag -3: r = 0.167 (n = 2,303)lag -2: r = 0.157 (n = 2,304)lag -1: r = 0.147 (n = 2,304)lag +0: r = 0.138 (n = 2,298)lag +1: r = 0.115 (n = 2,209)lag +2: r = 0.100 (n = 2,030)lag +3: r = 0.097 (n = 1,847)lag +4: r = 0.067 (n = 1,669)lag +5: r = 0.034 (n = 1,478)lag +6: r = 0.037 (n = 1,298)lag +7: r = 0.035 (n = 1,107)lag +8: r = 0.034 (n = 900)lag +9: r = 0.010 (n = 450)

Same year (lag 0): +0.138. A peak away from zero does not show which comes first. These series change slowly — this year’s value is close to last year’s. That makes the curve smooth and nearly symmetric, whatever produced the data. Even a sharp peak at one lag (a gap of some years) would not prove that one measure changes the other.

The data


index (0-100, higher = cleaner)
kWh per person		Years
Denmark DNK906,7752024, 2025
Finland FIN8815,6102024, 2025
Singapore SGP8410,2952024, 2025
New Zealand NZL838,2522024, 2025
Norway NOR8124,4902024, 2025
Luxembourg LUX819,8462024, 2025
Switzerland CHE817,2622024, 2025
Sweden SWE8012,8662024, 2025
Netherlands NLD786,6012024, 2025
Iceland ISL7748,4242024
Ireland IRL777,0912024, 2025
Australia AUS7710,6152024, 2025
Uruguay URY764,3582024, 2025
Estonia EST766,9482024, 2025
Germany DEU756,1882024, 2025

Transparency International, Corruption Perceptions Index
Ember, Yearly Electricity Data; population from Our World in Data, with processing by Our World in Data
One of these measures is published under a licence that forbids changes. Values are shown exactly as published and must not be republished in a changed or rescaled form.

Sources

Corruption Perceptions Index

Corruption Perceptions Index

Transparency International · via Our World in Data · CC BY-ND 4.0 · updated annual · comparable from 2012 only

Measures how corrupt the public sector is believed to be, based on 13 surveys of experts and business people. Some of the same surveys feed the Worldwide Governance Indicators' Control of Corruption measure, so the two share ingredients.

Electricity use per person

Electricity demand per person (kWh)

Ember · via Our World in Data · CC BY 4.0 · updated annual

All the electricity a country uses in a year, divided by its population, in kilowatt-hours (kWh). One kWh runs a 100-watt bulb for ten hours. It counts the power made at home plus imports, minus exports, including the power lost in wires along the way. So it is a little higher than "consumption" figures that leave those losses out. Use per person ranges from under 100 kWh a year in parts of Africa to over 50,000 in Iceland, where aluminium smelters use most of it, so a few industries can set a small country's figure. It rises steeply with income, and is measured in percentage terms (on a log scale) where it is used for adjusting. No "better" direction is set: more electricity can mean more comfort and industry, or more waste.

How this was computed

Data used: most recent value in 2010-2025; values come from 2014–2025. To adjust for income, each measure is first predicted from GDP per person (in percentage terms, on a log scale) with a straight-line fit. Only what is left over is then compared. This is called a partial correlation. The line is drawn the standard way (ordinary least squares), which picks the line that comes closest to all the countries at once. The error margins allow for countries in the same region resembling each other, using 7 World Bank regions. The q-value corrects for testing all 13,797 pairs at once, using the Benjamini–Hochberg method. Underlying data last updated DYB 2024. How the country data works · explore Corruption Perceptions Index and Electricity use per person

This page shows that two measures go together. It does not show that Corruption Perceptions Index changes Electricity use per person, or the reverse. These figures also describe countries, not individual people. See the ecological fallacy.

More links with Corruption Perceptions Index or Electricity use per person