Factsheet Corruption Perceptions in North Cyprus: 2024 Factsheet This year marks the completion of the eighth“Corruption Perceptions in North Cyprus” report which continues to be guided by the same five fundamental objectives: 1. To measure the perception of corruption in north Cyprus using an internationally recognized method; 2. To determine where north Cyprus stands in the fight against corruption compared to the rest of the world; 3. To detect changes in the perception of corruption compared to the previous year; 4. To gauge the overall pulse of businesspeople regarding corruption; and 5. To raise public awareness based on the study’s findings. To achieve particularly the first three objectives, this study adopts the methodology of the Corruption Perceptions Index(CPI) 1 , pub­lished annually by Transparency International(TI)—which does not cover the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus(TRNC) 2 — and relies on the perspectives of businesspeople, and experts. As in previous years, the survey, designed based on the TI-CPI methodology and expanded with questions from various stud­ies, was administered to 352 participants holding managerial positions in companies registered in the TRNC. The survey of businesspeople was conducted in December 2024 and January 2025 using Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing(CATI) and Computer-Assisted Self-Interviewing(CASI) methods, im­plemented by Lipa Consultancy. The sample was selected to rep­resent the business community accurately, considering factors such as region, sector, number of employees, and the duration of the companies’ operations. The survey results have a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of ±5%. The opinions of experts were also collected using the CASI method through a survey designed based on the methodology developed by Transparency International. This expert survey was conducted in January 2025, targeting a select group of se­nior retired public officials with extensive experience in the op­eration of state institutions. Based on the responses from businesspeople and experts, the north Cyprus’ TI-CPI 2024 score has been calculated as 26 out of 100. On a 0–100 scale, zero indicates extremely high corrup­tion, while 100 signifies the absence of corruption. This score is well below the average of 180 countries, which is 43, in the 2024 list published by Transparency International at the beginning of 2025, placing TRNC in the 140th position. Compared to the previous year, the score has dropped by one point, although the ranking remains unchanged. While last year the score was 7 points behind that of Turkey’s, this year TRNC is 8 points behind. In addition, the Republic of Cyprus(RoC)’s score increased from 53 to 56—placing them in the 46th position—and the gap between the scores widened from 26 to 30 points. This situation indicates a lack of effective anti-corruption policies in the TRNC and difficulties in meeting international standards. As stated above, the report goes beyond merely calculating a score by delving deeply into businesspeople’s perceptions and experiences regarding corruption. In this context, in addition to the questions used by Transparency International in various studies, country-specific questions were also posed, and the de­tailed responses to these are presented in the report. The results of the survey with businesspeople can be summarized under thirteen headings. Table 1: Comparison of the 2024 corruption perceptions scores of north Cyprus with the scores of selected countries and region. North Cyprus Republic of Cyprus Malta Greece Turkey EU/W. Eur. IMD 26 WEF 41 EIU 22 Bertelsmann SGI 16 TI- CPI Score 26 Ranking 140 40- 48 36 61 59 39 46 34 60 67 35 35 35 62 57 68 56 46 49 34 64 46 65 59 107 33 1 https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2024 2 The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus(TRNC) is only recognised by the Republic of Turkey. As the government of the Republic of Cyprus remains internationally recognised as the government of the whole of the island, the entire island is now considered to be a member of the European Union. However, the acquis communautaire is suspended in northern Cyprus pending a political settlement to the Cyprus problem(see Protocol no. 10 of the Accession Treaty).