London ? Myanmar and Somalia have been ranked as the most corrupt nations in Transparency International’s 2007 index, released Wednesday – adding pressure to the Southeast Asian country’s military regime as it faces the biggest anti-government protests in nearly two decades.

Transparency International’s 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index scored 180 countries based on the degree to which corruption is perceived among public officials and politicians.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, and Somalia received the lowest score of 1.4 out of 10.

Denmark, Finland and New Zealand were ranked the least corrupt – each scoring 9.4.

The agency’s scale is based on the perceptions of the degree of corruption by businesspeople and country analysts. Countries are ranked out of 10, and any score below 5 indicates “serious” perceived levels of corruption, while scores below 3 reflect “rampant” corruption, the agency said.