Most think corruption on the rise, survey finds
54% Indians paid bribe last year: study
49% Pakistanis paid bribes in 2010: TI

People in most of the world believe corruption has worsened over the past three years, with the global financial crisis fallout colouring their views, according to a survey released Thursday by an international watchdog.
Transparency International said that more than 91,000 people in 86 countries were surveyed between June and September for its Global Corruption Barometer survey.
One person in four worldwide paid bribe during the past year while 54 per cent Indians say they greased the palms of authorities to get things done, says a study released today to mark International Anti-Corruption Day.

"Corruption has increased over the last three years, say six out of 10 people around the world, and one in four people report paying bribes in the last year," the Berlin-based non- governmental agency, Transparency International (TI), said.
The police are named the most frequent recipient of bribes, according to those surveyed, with 29 per cent of those who had contact with the police reporting that they paid bribe.
The biggest number of reported bribery payments in 2010 is in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Cameroon, India, Iraq, Liberia, Nigeria, Palestine, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Uganda where more than 50 per cent of people surveyed paid bribe in the past 12 months.

Almost 49 per cent of Pakistanis have paid a bribe to an official in the government or private sector during the last twelve months according to a study released by Berlin-based non-governmental agency Transparency International on International Anti-Corruption Day.
The survey, which is part of the Global Corruption Barometer 2010 and conducted by Gallup Pakistan in the country, focused on nine areas, including education, police, political parties and the judiciary.
The police emerged as the most corrupt department, in the list of ‘institutions perceived to be most affected by corruption’, scoring a 4.5 on a scale of one to five (five being extremely corrupt).

In India, 54 per cent of users of services said they paid bribe to receive attention from service providers.
Almost half of all respondents say they paid bribes to avoid problems with the authorities and a quarter say it was to speed up processes.
Most worrying is the fact that bribes to the police have almost doubled since 2006, and more people report paying bribes to the judiciary and for registry and permit services than they did so five years ago, TI said.
Worldwide, sub-Saharan Africa was the region reporting the greatest incidence of bribery with more than one person in two saying they had made such payments to officials in the past 12 months.
The Middle East and North Africa was the next most corrupt regions with 36 per cent of people there reporting having paid bribes.
This compared to 32 per cent in the former Soviet republics, 23 per cent in South America, 19 per cent in the Balkans and Turkey, 11 per cent in the Asia-Pacific region and five per cent in the European Union and North America.
The United Nations established International Anti-Corruption Day in 2003 to raise awareness of graft and promote the global fight against it.