Corruption in Jordan

Corruption in Jordan is a social and economic issue.^[1][2]

Overview

Transparency International's 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index, which scored 180 countries on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"), gave Jordan a score of 49. When ranked by score, Jordan ranked 59th among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector.^[3] Compared to regional scores, the average score among Middle Eastern and North African countries^{[Note 1]} was 39. The best score among Middle Eastern and North African countries was 68 and the worst score was 12.^[4] For comparison with worldwide scores, the average score was 43, the best score was 90 (ranked 1), and the worst score was 8 (ranked 180).^[5]

A business survey, the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report 2013-2014, reports that corruption is considered one of the obstacles to doing business in Jordan by business executives.^[1]

Dynamics

Societal interests in Jordan are generally not channelled through political parties, but through informal networks. Favouritism, cronyism, nepotism and bribery, as is the use of influence or personal and business connections to gain favours, such as jobs or access to goods and services, are covered by a particular phenomenon known as wasta, the middleman.^[6]

There have been corruption cases involving high-level business and political officials with connections to the royal family.^[6]

Notes

1. Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen

See also

• International Anti-Corruption Academy
• Group of States Against Corruption
• International Anti-Corruption Day
• ISO 37001 Anti-bribery management systems
• United Nations Convention against Corruption
• OECD Anti-Bribery Convention
• Transparency International