The Corruption Perception Index — CPI — is the corruption perception index of a nation, corruption means "the abuse of public offices for private gain" and by public offices we also mean political ones and the politicians themselves. This index is evaluated annually since 1995 and all studies, year by year, are published on Transparency International; more at the top is the state is registered and there is less corruption. Each state is assigned a score from 1 to 10, plus is the higher the score, the more we climb the rankings upwards.
Taking an Italian overview of the last 10 years we see that in 2004 we had a score of 5.2, in 2005 there is given a 6.2 and reconfirmed the following year (2001–2006 XIV Legislature, Berlusconi government II and III). In 2007 we had a 5.2, 4.8 in 2008(2006–2008 XV Legislature, Prodi government II; corruption of Senator De Gregorio), 4.3 in 2009, 3.9 in 2010. In 2010 Italy on a global level was at 67° place overtaken by countries such as Ghana, Samoa and Rwanda, ahead by 0.1 points to countries such as Cuba, Romania and Brazil.
In 2011 our score was 3.9, 4.2 in 2012, 4.3 in 2013 (2008–2013 XVI Legislature, Berlusconi IV government and Monti government); we closed 2014 with a score of 4.3 at 69th placed, in front of us South Africa, Kuwait and Turkey, behind us Montenegro, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, tied with us: Brazil, Bulgaria, Greece, Swaziland, Romania, Senegal (2013 to date, XVII Legislature, Letta government, Renzi government).
In 10 years we have gone from 42° position at 69° making us surpass ourselves in legality (+ corruption = + illegality) from countries like Cuba,SamoaandMalaysiajust to name a few. Just to have a reference parameter, Denmark, first in the ranking in 2014, has achieved an average of almost 9.0 in these 10 years!
Why is the CPI important? Simple: if you had capital to invest, you would invest it in countries where you need to "oil". the gears to create a business or in one like Denmark?