Corruption has a global foothold
Bribery demands from police and other officials is a major problem across the developing world and even in European Union countries such as the Czech Republic and Greece, a corruption watchdog said Thursday.
“Corruption has infiltrated public life and burrowed in,” said Robin Hodess, policy and research director at Transparency International.
The Berlin-based nongovernmental organization said its report, “Global Corruption Barometer 2006,” indicated that bribery was most prevalent in Africa, where an average of 36% of those surveyed said they or a member of their family had paid a bribe in the last 12 months.
But the country where the highest percentage of respondents reported paying a bribe was in Europe. In Albania, two out of every three respondents said they had bribed someone in the last 12 months.
In EU members Greece and the Czech Republic, 17% reported having paid a bribe.
On average, Western Europe and North America had the lowest incidence of bribery, with 2% of respondents saying they had paid a bribe.
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