Political Corruption Index in Iraq
Iraq: Political Corruption Index was 0.892 in 2025. ▲ Rising
Latest (2025)
0.892
Change on year
up 4.9%
World rank
10th
of 176 countries
All-time high
0.892
in 2025
All-time low
0.496
in 1920
Years of data
106
1920–2025
Political Corruption Index in Iraq, 1920–2025
Source: V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
The most recent figure for political corruption index in Iraq is 0.892, measured in 2025. That is the highest value across all 106 years on record.
That represents a change of up 4.9% on the previous year and up 2.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, political corruption index in Iraq peaked at 0.892 in 2025 and was at its lowest, 0.496, in 1920.
Iraq ranks 10th of 176 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 106 years of available data.
Political Corruption Index in Iraq, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1920 | 0.496 | — |
| 1921 | 0.496 | +0.0% |
| 1922 | 0.496 | +0.0% |
| 1923 | 0.496 | +0.0% |
| 1924 | 0.496 | +0.0% |
| 1925 | 0.496 | +0.0% |
| 1926 | 0.575 | +15.9% |
| 1927 | 0.575 | +0.0% |
| 1928 | 0.575 | +0.0% |
| 1929 | 0.575 | +0.0% |
| 1930 | 0.575 | +0.0% |
| 1931 | 0.575 | +0.0% |
| 1932 | 0.613 | +6.6% |
| 1933 | 0.616 | +0.5% |
| 1934 | 0.616 | +0.0% |
| 1935 | 0.616 | +0.0% |
| 1936 | 0.616 | +0.0% |
| 1937 | 0.616 | +0.0% |
| 1938 | 0.616 | +0.0% |
| 1939 | 0.616 | +0.0% |
| 1940 | 0.616 | +0.0% |
| 1941 | 0.617 | +0.2% |
| 1942 | 0.617 | +0.0% |
| 1943 | 0.617 | +0.0% |
| 1944 | 0.617 | +0.0% |
| 1945 | 0.617 | +0.0% |
| 1946 | 0.617 | +0.0% |
| 1947 | 0.617 | +0.0% |
| 1948 | 0.617 | +0.0% |
| 1949 | 0.617 | +0.0% |
| 1950 | 0.617 | +0.0% |
| 1951 | 0.617 | +0.0% |
| 1952 | 0.617 | +0.0% |
| 1953 | 0.617 | +0.0% |
| 1954 | 0.617 | +0.0% |
| 1955 | 0.617 | +0.0% |
| 1956 | 0.617 | +0.0% |
| 1957 | 0.617 | +0.0% |
| 1958 | 0.562 | -8.9% |
| 1959 | 0.541 | -3.7% |
| 1960 | 0.536 | -0.9% |
| 1961 | 0.536 | +0.0% |
| 1962 | 0.536 | +0.0% |
| 1963 | 0.629 | +17.4% |
| 1964 | 0.587 | -6.7% |
| 1965 | 0.587 | +0.0% |
| 1966 | 0.587 | +0.0% |
| 1967 | 0.587 | +0.0% |
| 1968 | 0.589 | +0.3% |
| 1969 | 0.589 | +0.0% |
| 1970 | 0.578 | -1.9% |
| 1971 | 0.577 | -0.2% |
| 1972 | 0.577 | +0.0% |
| 1973 | 0.577 | +0.0% |
| 1974 | 0.577 | +0.0% |
| 1975 | 0.577 | +0.0% |
| 1976 | 0.577 | +0.0% |
| 1977 | 0.598 | +3.6% |
| 1978 | 0.598 | +0.0% |
| 1979 | 0.613 | +2.5% |
| 1980 | 0.78 | +27.2% |
| 1981 | 0.802 | +2.8% |
| 1982 | 0.802 | +0.0% |
| 1983 | 0.802 | +0.0% |
| 1984 | 0.802 | +0.0% |
| 1985 | 0.802 | +0.0% |
| 1986 | 0.802 | +0.0% |
| 1987 | 0.802 | +0.0% |
| 1988 | 0.802 | +0.0% |
| 1989 | 0.802 | +0.0% |
| 1990 | 0.829 | +3.4% |
| 1991 | 0.888 | +7.1% |
| 1992 | 0.888 | +0.0% |
| 1993 | 0.888 | +0.0% |
| 1994 | 0.888 | +0.0% |
| 1995 | 0.888 | +0.0% |
| 1996 | 0.888 | +0.0% |
| 1997 | 0.888 | +0.0% |
| 1998 | 0.888 | +0.0% |
| 1999 | 0.888 | +0.0% |
| 2000 | 0.889 | +0.1% |
| 2001 | 0.889 | +0.0% |
| 2002 | 0.87 | -2.1% |
| 2003 | 0.799 | -8.2% |
| 2004 | 0.749 | -6.3% |
| 2005 | 0.803 | +7.2% |
| 2006 | 0.803 | +0.0% |
| 2007 | 0.841 | +4.7% |
| 2008 | 0.839 | -0.2% |
| 2009 | 0.839 | +0.0% |
| 2010 | 0.842 | +0.4% |
| 2011 | 0.842 | +0.0% |
| 2012 | 0.842 | +0.0% |
| 2013 | 0.874 | +3.8% |
| 2014 | 0.862 | -1.4% |
| 2015 | 0.872 | +1.2% |
| 2016 | 0.878 | +0.7% |
| 2017 | 0.867 | -1.3% |
| 2018 | 0.854 | -1.5% |
| 2019 | 0.877 | +2.7% |
| 2020 | 0.87 | -0.8% |
| 2021 | 0.858 | -1.4% |
| 2022 | 0.864 | +0.7% |
| 2023 | 0.84 | -2.8% |
| 2024 | 0.85 | +1.2% |
| 2025 | 0.892 | +4.9% |
Iraq compared with similar countries
- Iraq's 0.892 is above the median for upper middle income countries, which is 0.62, 1.4× the median. (48 countries reporting)
- Iraq's 0.892 is above the median for Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan, which is 0.619, 1.4× the median. (23 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1920s | 0.5276 | 0.496 | 0.575 | 10 |
| 1930s | 0.6075 | 0.575 | 0.616 | 10 |
| 1940s | 0.6169 | 0.616 | 0.617 | 10 |
| 1950s | 0.6039 | 0.541 | 0.617 | 10 |
| 1960s | 0.5763 | 0.536 | 0.629 | 10 |
| 1970s | 0.5849 | 0.577 | 0.613 | 10 |
| 1980s | 0.7998 | 0.78 | 0.802 | 10 |
| 1990s | 0.8821 | 0.829 | 0.888 | 10 |
| 2000s | 0.8321 | 0.749 | 0.889 | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.861 | 0.842 | 0.878 | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.8623 | 0.84 | 0.892 | 6 |
Countries ranked near Iraq
- 7 Turkmenistan 0.899 compare
- 8 South Sudan 0.893 compare
- 8 Tajikistan 0.893 compare
- 11 Azerbaijan 0.89 compare
- 12 Uganda 0.889 compare
- 13 Democratic Republic of Congo 0.886 compare
More social development data for Iraq
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 322,345 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 270,671 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 5 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, gaps filled 5 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0058 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 270,671 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0069 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is political corruption index in Iraq?
- Political corruption index in Iraq was 0.892 in 2025, according to V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest political corruption index recorded in Iraq?
- The highest recorded value was 0.892 in 2025.
- What is the lowest political corruption index recorded in Iraq?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.496 in 1920.
- How does Iraq rank for political corruption index?
- Iraq ranks 10th out of 176 countries with data for 2025.
- Is political corruption index rising or falling in Iraq?
- Over the last ten years it is up 2.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Iraq data come from?
- The figures come from V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Political Corruption Index. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 106 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Central estimate of the extent to which a country is affected by political corruption.