Anti-Corruption Day Reveals Hidden Tax: Bribes

The Barometer indicates that corruption’s impact on personal and family life is most dramatic on poor households. …citizens in low income countries tend to pay a significantly larger percentage of their income in bribes than in higher income countries. Close to 55,000 people in 69 countries were polled as part of the Gallup International Voice of the People 2005 survey, between May and October 2005 to assess their views on corruption. … Per capita income and purchasing power vary substantially across countries, meaning that the economic significance of bribes for an individual or family differs from one country to another. The Barometer includes respondents’ estimates of the cost of bribery in 19 countries. From the data collected, it seems that households in Africa pay relatively more in bribes as a share of their annual income. Families in Cameroon, Ghana and Nigeria seem subject to particularly high levels of bribery between a fifth and a third of per capita income. In India, Kenya, Moldova, Togo and Ukraine, families pay between 10 and 20 percent of per capita income in bribes. … According to these estimates, the average amount of bribes paid per household annually varies widely across these 19 countries, from a low of US$ 36 in Paraguay to US$ 205 in Cameroon. These differences can be observed even in economically comparable countries in the same region. In some countries, smaller bribes may be paid frequently. … For the second year running, political parties are viewed as the most corrupt sector. This year 45 of the 69 countries surveyed ranked political institutions at the top of the chart. At 4.0 on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 considered “extremely corrupt”, political corruption is a dominant concern of respondents. Parliaments/legislatures (3.7) and the police (3.6) follow closely. “The fish rots from the head,” said David Nussbaum. “When a government is corrupt at the top, the power to make fundamental reform lies in the hands of those least likely to do so.”

Global Corruption Barometer 2005 Press Release, Transparency International, December 9, 2005.