Bulgaria Nears 'Global Average' in Corruption Perception Index

Bulgaria has ranked 75th in the world in terms of corruption perception and is singled out as the EU state perceived as "most corrupt" by its citizens in the latest Transparency International ranking.

The country's score places it at a part with Turkey, both countries ranking 75th out of 176 countries worldwide (No 1 perceived as "least corrupt" and No 176 as "most corrupt"), the map on Transparency's website shows.

It gets 41 points for its performance, nearing the "global average" of 43 points - unlike with the ranking, lower scores indicate higher level of corruption while a result of 100 would suggest a country is "very clean".

Last year, Bulgaria ranked better, taking the 69th place in the index with 41 points.

According to a press release from Transparency International's Bulgarian unit, the sectors most affected by corruption in the country are the judiciary and the legislative branch.

Among other "newer" members of the EU, Romania (which joined in the same year) gets 48 this year (a better result) and ranks 57th.

Croatia, which joined in 2013, has 49 points and ranks 55th.

In the Balkans, Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina are the countries performing worse than Bulgaria.

"The lower-ranked countries in our index are plagued by untrustworthy and badly functioning public institutions like the police and judiciary," Transparency writes as an introduction to the index.

"Even where anti-corruption laws are on the books, in practice they're often skirted or ignored. People frequently face situations of bribery and extortion, rely on basic services that have been undermined by the misappropriation of funds, and confront official indifference when seeking...