Finland 'least corrupt country in the world' -Ghana is 53

BERLIN, Germany -- Finland is perceived as the world's least corrupt country in a new survey that rates Nigeria as the worst offender. Ghana tied with Argentina, Senegal, Slovak Republic and Bulgaria at 53rd.

Transparency International lists 90 countries in its annual corruption index, and describes corruption as "a universal cancer" which hampers political stability and foreign investment in developing countries.

Nine of the 12 "cleanest" nations are in Europe - in descending order: Finland (1), Denmark (2), Sweden (4), Iceland (6), Norway (7), Netherlands (9), United Kingdom (10), Luxembourg (11) and Switzerland (12).

Former Soviet republics emerge badly, occupying six of the last 16 places.

Russia is ranked 83, slightly better than Azerbaijan, at 87, and Ukraine, 88. Moldova, Armenia and Uzbekistan are put at 75, 76 and 79 respectively.

Yugoslavia is in 89th position, just ahead of Nigeria.