Global Corruption Barometer 2009

T R A N S PA R E N C Y I N T E R N AT I O N A L

2009

GL OBAL
CO R RUPT ION
B A ROMET ER

www.transparency.org
Transparency International is the global civil society
organisation leading the fight against corruption.
Through more than 90 chapters worldwide and an
international secretariat in Berlin, Germany, TI raises
awareness of the damaging effects of corruption
and works withpartners in government, business and
civil society to develop and implement effective
measures to tackle it.

Acknowledgements
The 2009 Global Corruption Barometer Report was prepared by Juanita Riaño, with Robin Hodess and Alastair Evans.
Contributions were provided by: Rebecca Dobson, Andre Doren, Jesse Garcia, Lydie Gerboin, Gypsy Guillén Kaiser,
Heather McRobie and Michael Sidwell.ISBN: 978-3-935711-28-9
© 2009 Transparency International. All rights Reserved.
Design: Lemke-Mahdavi Kommunikationsdesign
Every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of the information contained in this report. All information was believed
to be correct as of May 2009. Nevertheless, Transparency International cannot accept responsibility for the consequences
of its use for other purposesor in other contexts.
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© iStockphoto.com/TylerStalman, © Flickr.com/OneEighteen, © Flickr.com/wwarby
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ContentsExecutive Summary

2

1. General public’s perceptions of corruption in key sectors

5

2. People’s experiences of corruption

7

2.1. Reported bribery
2.2. Use of complaints mechanisms

7
13

3. Expert vs. ordinary people’s views and experiences of corruption 14
4. People’s views of the private sector

15

5. Government efforts to fight corruption

17

6. Conclusions19

Appendix
A:
B:
C:
D:

About the survey
Country/Territory classification according to income
Questionnaire
Tables by Country/Territory
Table 1: To what extent do you perceive the following institutions in this country to be affected by corruption?
Table 2: Which of these six sectors/organisations would you consider to be the most affected by corruption?
Table 3: In the past 12months, have you or anyone living in your household paid a bribe in any form?
Table 4: How would you assess your current government’s actions in the fight against corruption?

E:

Country/Territory Coverage of the Global Corruption Barometer over time

Endnotes

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Executive Summary

Transparency International’s (TI) 2009 Global CorruptionBarometer (the Barometer) presents the main findings of a
public opinion survey that explores the general public’s views
of corruption, as well as experiences of bribery around the
world.1 It assesses the extent to which key institutions and
public services are perceived to be corrupt, measures citizens’
views on government efforts to fight corruption, and this
year, for the first time, includesquestions about the level of
state capture and people’s willingness to pay a premium for
clean corporate behaviour.

The 2009 Barometer interviewed 73,132 people in 69
countries and territories between October 2008 and February
2009. The main findings are as follows:

•

The private sector is perceived to be corrupt by half of
those interviewed: a notable increase of eight percentagepoints compared to five years ago.

The Barometer is designed to complement the expert
opinions on public sector corruption provided by TI’s Corruption Perceptions Index and the views of senior business
executives on international bribery flows reflected in TI’s Bribe
Payers Index. It also aims to provide information on trends in
public perceptions of corruption. Now in its sixth...