Corruption perceptions, measured: where Nepal sits and why the index moves slowly

The best-known corruption index aggregates expert and business surveys into a single score. Nepal's has sat in the mid-thirties for most of the past decade, in the company of many of its neighbours. [1]

The score is a perception, and perceptions change slowly: a reform has to be visible, enforced and survive a change of government before surveys register it.

What moves the number

Prosecutions of senior figures move it most, in either direction. So does the perceived independence of courts and the press, which other indices measure separately. [2]