Both Chile and Uruguay ranked 25th in the overall ranking of 180 countries, with a score of 6.7 out of 10, according to the Corruption Perception Index 2009.

Latin American countries with even less corruption are Puerto Rico and Costa Rica, which rank 35th and 43rd, respectively.

Latin America's most corrupt countries are Venezuela, which placed 162nd with 1.9 points, followed by Paraguay, Ecuador and Bolivia, which placed 154th, 146th and 120th, respectively.

According to the ranking, New Zealand, with 9.4 points, is the least corrupt country in the world. Denmark, which led the ranking in 2008, now holds second place, with 9.3 points. Singapore, with 9.2 points, comes third.

Meanwhile, the ranking has revealed that the world's most corrupt countries are Somalia, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Sudan.

According to Transparency International, the countries are graded based on surveys which measure people's perception of corruption in politics and the public sector.