• On a scale of zero to 10 -- with zero being highly corrupt and 10 being highly clean, Denmark rated a 10, with Finland and Sweden following with 9.6 and 9.5 respectively (see figure).

• Hovering near Cameroon's 1.4 rating were Paraguay with 1.5 and Honduras at 1.7.

• The United States tied Austria for 17th place in the study, with a score of 7.5.

• Although poor countries tend to dominate the low rankings, some more affluent countries joined them, including Greece, Italy and Japan, which all received scores of less than 6.

Fifty countries received scores of less than 5, even though more than half the world's nations weren't included due to lack of data.

The rankings were based on reports from other organizations, including the World Bank and Gallup International. The surveys measured the perceptions of business people, risk analysts, journalists and the public.

Source: Marc Selinger, "There Is Nothing Rotten in Denmark," Washington Times, September 23, 1998.