Transparency International, the global coalition against corruption, has listed Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba as two Caribbean states “with a significant worsening in perceived levels of corruption”.

In a worldwide report released on Monday, the German-based organization also listed Brazil, Israel, Jordan, Laos, Seychelles, Tunisia and the United States, as countries with perceived high levels of corruption.

The 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), points to a strong correlation between corruption and poverty, with a concentration of impoverished states at the bottom of the ranking.

Corruption traps millions in poverty,” said Transparency International Chair, Huguette Labelle.

“Despite a decade of progress in establishing anti-corruption laws and regulations, today’s results indicate that much remains to be done before we see meaningful improvements in the lives of the world’s poorest citizens.”

Countries with a significant improvement in perceived levels of corruption include: Algeria, Czech Republic, India, Japan, Latvia, Lebanon, Mauritius, Paraguay, Slovenia, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uruguay.

“While the industrialized countries score relatively high on the CPI 2006, we continue to see major corruption scandals in many of these countries. Although corruption in this context may have less of an impact on poverty and development than in developing countries, these scandals demonstrate that there is no room for complacency,” Transparency International said in the report.

The 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index is a composite index that draws on multiple expert opinion surveys that poll perceptions of public sector corruption in 163 countries around the world.

It scores countries on a scale from zero to 10, with zero indicating high levels of perceived corruption and 10 indicating low levels of perceived corruption.

The report noted that aljost three-quarters of the countries in the CPI score below five indicating that jost countries in the world face serious perceived levels of domestic corruption.

It said that 71 countries, - nearly half - score below three, indicating that corruption is perceived as rampant. Haiti has the lowest score at 1.8; while Finland, Iceland and New Zealand share the top score of 9.6.