Two freedoms of competitive Denmark

In the blog entry Competitiveness: Denmark’s happy achievers we looked at a few international comparisons regarding happiness, the good life, competitiveness and the business environment in Denmark.

Here we are going to look at two freedoms necessary for a good society: freedom from the toxins of corruption and media repression.  

Corruption perceptions

No country is totally free from the poison of corruption, but among the 176 probed by Transparency International in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2016, Denmark and New Zealand come out on top (followed by Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Singapore, the Netherlands, Canada, Germany, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom).

Here you can open or download the 12-page brochure about the survey of corruption in the public sector. The leaflet starts by stating:

Corruption and inequality feed off each other, creating a vicious circle

between corruption, unequal distribution of power in society, and unequal

distribution of wealth.

If you want to know more about the fight against corruption, you can find more position papers and other publications from Transparency International, as well as news and information on the TI home page.

Media freedom  

For freedom of expression and information, the 2017 World Press Freedom Index from Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranks 180 countries according to the level of freedom available to journalists.

The criteria used in the questionnaire are pluralism, media independence, media environment and self-censorship, legislative framework, transparency, and the quality of the infrastructure that supports the production of news and information.

In the 2017 World Press Freedom (the customary, but somewhat antiquated term) ranking Denmark was fourth in the world, behind Norway, Sweden and Finland, but ahead of the Netherlands, Costa Rica, Switzerland, Jamaica, Belgium and Iceland, with some more index details here.

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Almost free from the poisons of public sector corruption and media repression, Denmark enjoys extraordinary basic societal health, which lays the foundation for reform policies and constant improvement of life and competitiveness, if politicians and citizens are prepared to make the effort.

Ralf Grahn