I discuss in my book a few instances of petty corruption that I observed in Estonia in 1992, including [in chapter 8] a deal to reclaim a confiscated drivers license by bribing a policeman with a gift of cognac and roses.
But this sort of corruption was the exception rather than the rule, and it struck me as a vestige of the Soviet survival toolkit rather than anything deeply rooted in Estonian culture. In 1992 and in the succeeding five years that I lived in the country, I found that most Estonians were inclined to play by the rules.
These observations are supported by Transparency International’s 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index, released today. The index ranks 180 countries according to “the perceived level of public-sector corruption”. Estonia is ranked 27th in the world and is tied for 12th place in the European Union.
Estonia’s ranking places it far ahead of Baltic neighbors Lithuania (#52) and Latvia (#56). Estonia is also perceived as being less corrupt than Hungary (#46), Italy (#63), and Bulgaria and Romania (tied at #71). The United States is ranked 19th. The world’s least corrupt countries? New Zealand, Denmark, and Singapore.
