TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Transparency International gave the same number of points to Taiwan in its Corruption Perceptions Index for 2018 as the previous year, but China plunged from No.77 to No.87, the Liberty Times reported Tuesday.

The independent organization rated 180 countries and territories according to the prevalence of corruption and the seriousness of efforts to combat the problem.

While Taiwan received 63 points both in 2017 and 2018, it fell just two places from 29^th to 31^st.

However, China lost two points, falling from 41 to 39 points, but in the rankings, it dropped from No.77 last year to No.87 in the latest report. The lower the number of points, the more corrupt a country is judged to be.

Singapore, at a joint No.3 with Finland, Sweden and Switzerland, is the only Asian country in the top-10, with Hong Kong and Japan rounding out the three least corrupt places in the continent.

Denmark claimed the top spot with 88 points, just one ahead of New Zealand, deemed the least corrupt country in the world over the two previous years.