One in every four people paid a petty bribe for some basic services in the last year, reveals a new report by corruption watchdog organization Transparency International (TI). “Global Corruption Barometer 2010,” published on Dec. 9., analyzes data from interviews with 91,500 people in 86 countries in its seventh annual survey to map global public opinion on corruption.
TI found that without paying bribes, people in a large part of the world cannot get basic services they are entitled to, such as utilities, medical services, and education.
Young people were hit even harder than the average population with one in three under 30-year-olds worldwide admitting to paying a bribe in the last year, compared to one-quarter for the overall population.
Regionally, the biggest bribing cultures were in Asia Pacific and Latin America where more than one-third of those surveyed had to pay off a workers’ bribe to receive basic services.
What TI deems “most worrying,” however, is the increase in bribes paid to the police and judiciary. The amount of payoffs to police doubled in 2010, compared to its 2006 survey. Bribes paid to the judiciary and for registry and permit services also increased in the past five years.
“Those institutions that are supposed to prevent corruption and enforce the law, such as the police and judiciary, must function well for everyone in society.” Instead the police have been identified as the most frequent recipient of bribes with 29 percent of the 91,500 people surveyed saying they have paid a bribe to police.
The segment of society most likely to be affected by corruption is the poor, found TI. “Corruption is a regressive tax. ... The marginalized and poor remain the most vulnerable to extortion,” said Huguette Labelle, chair of Transparency International on its site.
In poor countries like Liberia (89 percent) and Cambodia (84 percent), almost everybody paid a bribe last year.
In the wealthier nations of the EU and the United States, the figure was much less, only 1 in 20.
Although the level of corruption is lowest in Europe and North America, citizens there were most negative about recent developments of increased corruption. Labelle blames it on the financial crisis. “The fallout of the financial crises continues to affect people’s opinions of corruption, particularly in Europe and North America,” she said according to the press release. Respectively, 67 and 73 percent of the respondents in Europe and Northern America think corruption has increased in the last three years.
A positive finding in the report is an expressed willingness to fight corruption. “The message from the 2010 Barometer is that corruption is insidious. It makes people lose faith. The good news is that people are ready to act,” said Labelle.
Across the world, half of respondents think that governments are ineffective in stopping corruption, however, 70 percent feel that the public can make a difference. About half of the people surveyed said they are motivated themselves to get involved in fighting corruption.
The release of the report coincided with International Anti-Corruption Day, Dec. 9. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on “business leaders worldwide to denounce corruption and to back their words with strict prohibitions against it.”
He added, “They should adopt anti-corruption policies in line with the United Nations Convention, and put in place the necessary checks to strengthen integrity and transparency.”
