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Bribery Makes the World Go Round

While corruption is traditionally difficult to measure, the BBC reports that corruption worldwide may be rising. The article examines results from Transparency International’s?Global Corruption Barometer, which surveyed 90,000 people in 86 countries, and a BBC poll of 13,000 people in 26 countries. Perhaps the most startling finding is that 1 in 4 people surveyed by Transparency International admitted to paying a bribe in the past year – some to the police, some to permit officials and even some to the judiciary. Top reasons for bribery were divided by region: to avoid trouble with authorities?in Sub-Saharan Africa, to “speed things up” in the Arab world and Latin America,?while most in North America and the E.U. answered that they “could not remember.” Meanwhile, Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index indicates that Denmark, New Zealand, Singapore, Finland and Sweden are perceived as the least corrupt countries, while Somalia is perceived as the most corrupt. [%comments]


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