And the winner, for the eighth year in a row, is Denmark. The nation scores a highly impressive 89 points, one down from its 2024 score. The Scandinavian country may be the world's least corrupt and should be feted for its integrity, but that doesn't mean it’s entirely free from graft.

In 2024, the groundbreaking documentary TV series The Black Swan blew apart Denmark's reputation for being squeaky clean. The series centred on Amira Smajic, a high-profile lawyer known as the 'Ice Queen' for her work laundering money and handling legal loopholes for organised crime gangs. Working with journalists, Smajic secretly recorded her interactions with business leaders, politicians and members of the criminal underworld. Watched by half of the Danish population, the series forced a national reckoning and led to a renewed crackdown on money laundering.

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