Compared to 2010, Lithuanian citizens are less prone to giving a bribe; however, they are still giving more bribes than the rest of the EU. 77 % of Lithuanians also indicate that contacts are necessary to get a public sector job. Almost two thirds (63%) argue that the Lithuanian government is influenced by big interest groups and is operating for their interests rather than ordinary citizens.
26 % of Lithuanians admit that during the past year they gave a bribe to at least one out of eight providers of public goods: education, courts, health care, police, registrar and the institutions issuing permits, utility services companies, state tax inspectorate, or land management institutions. Similar level of corruption was identified in Vietnam (30%), Iraq (29 %), Venezuela (27 %), Serbia (26 %), and Paraguay (25 %). Compared to the data of 2010, Lithuania managed to decrease its levels of this type of corruption by 8 %.
At the same time, the average in the EU is only 11 %. Countries, such as Greece, Slovakia, and Latvia, give less bribes than Lithuania. The least corrupt is Denmark - only 1 %.
According to Lithuanians, contacts are the most important in the public sector - 77 % indicate that this is the case. This rate is the second highest in the EU only after Italy (80 %).
The global corruption barometer is the sociological research organized by 'Transparency International'. The research surveys 114 300 people in 107 countries, 1007 people out of them were surveyed in Lithuania.
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