About the Subnational Corruption Database

The Subnational Corruption Database (SCD) provides data on corruption in 1,473 subnational areas of 178 countries. The SCD includes an overall corruption index, the Subnational Corruption Index (SCI), and its two components: the Subnational Grand Corruption Index (SGCI) and Subnational Petty Corruption Index (SPCI). The SCD is constructed by combining data of 807 surveys held in the period 1995–2022 and includes the corruption experiences and perceptions of 1,326,656 respondents along 19 separate dimensions. The data are available for multiple years, allowing longitudinal analyses. At the national level, the SCI correlates strongly with established corruption indices, like the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) and the World Bank Control of Corruption Index (CCI).

The SCI is available in two forms. The Baseline SCI only offers information in the years in which household surveys are available for a particular subnational area. These baseline data are most appropriate for (academic) research. The Comprehensive SCI uses methods of estimation, interpolation and extrapolation to arrive at a full series for each area. These comprehensive data are most appropriate for descriptive purposes or within-year comparisons.

The SCD makes use of 13 different sources which each offer subnationally classified corruption data on at least one of the 19 corruption dimensions. The SCD harmonizes all subnational classifications into one coherent and consistent classification. The 13 sources are: