Which Are The Most Corrupt Countries in The World?

WHEN WE HEAR THE WORD CORRUPTION we tend to go with the usual, least trustworthy suspects such as government and police—but how about other institutions, like education or health services? How corrupt are these institutions, and in which countries are they most corrupt?

A global survey by Transparency International revealed that corruption is increasing—what might be surprising is how and why corruption is going up.

According to the poll, one in four people reporting paying bribes in 2009. There’s a tendency to believe that if corruption is happening, it has nothing to do with us personally. But we’d be wrong about our own involvement.

As this graphic shows, the percentage of respondents who paid a bribe was highest in Sub-Saharan Africa, at 56 percent:

Petty bribery increased the most in Chile, Colombia, Kenya, FYR Macedonia, Nigeria, Poland, Russia, Senegal and Thailand. And bribery was most often an activity of the poor and the young.

The survey also asked respondents who they believed to be the most corrupt. In this category, political parties were the clear “winner” in over two dozen countries:

© Transparency International

You can click through these interactive graphics to get results on individual countries on Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer, including more detailed results and true stories of people’s experiences with corruption.