Lebanon's public sector has been ranked 127 according to a survey issued by an international watchdog group.

According to Transparency International's annual Corruption Perceptions Index scoring 177 countries, more than four-fifths of Middle Eastern countries are ranked below 50 on a scale from 0 (highly corrupted) to 100 (very corrupted).

Lebanon scored 28 this year compared to 30 in the Corruption Perceptions Index for 2012,  indicating therefore a slight growth in corruption.

As for countries undergoing upheavals, Yemen's rating fell five points to 18, Syria dropped nine points to 17, and Libya down six points to 15.

The bottom-ranked countries included Iraq, Syria, Libya, Sudan and South Sudan, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti and Yemen, scoring all between 10 to 19.

Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia were ranked in the last place with 8 points.

On the other hand, Denmark and New Zealand, were Luxembourg, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Singapore, Norway, Sweden and Finland came at the top of the list, scoring between 80 and 89.