On Friday, December 9, the world celebrated International Anti-Corruption Day. Transparency International Poll released on Friday showed widespread public alarm about corruption. Said Huguette Labelle, Chair of Transparency International:
“Today’s survey shows that people believe corruption is deeply embedded in their countries…But embedded corruption can be rooted out when people join together to change the system that facilitates it.”
Findings of the survey include:
- Corruption has the greatest effect on the poor – citizens in Africa pay relatively more in bribes as a share of their income
- Corruption has increased in recent years
- Only in six countries (out of 69 surveyed) did citizens feel that corruption has gone down – Those countries are Colombia, Georgia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Kenya, and Singapore
- The countries with the highest prevalence of bribery are from Latin America (Guatemala, Mexico, and Paraguay), Africa (Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo), Central and Eastern Europe (Lithuania, Moldova, and Romania) and Asia (Cambodia)
- Political parties continue to be viewed as the most corrupt sector overall
Transparency International’s survey does a great deal in evaluating the negative effects of corruption and Huguette Labelle’s quote lays out a good direction for anti-corruption programs – change the system that sustains it. For examples of programs that bring together the private sector, other civil society groups, and government officials to reform institutions and curb corruption check out program resources on the anti-corruption section of CIPE’s website.
Published Date: December 12, 2005