The Global Corruption Barometer 2007 explores experiences of households with petty bribery. On average, more than one in ten of those interviewed had to pay a bribe in the past year to obtain a service.

Countries most affected by petty bribery include Albania, Cameroon, FYR Macedonia, Kosovo, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Romania and Senegal.

So where is Turkey in the list? Many people think Turkey is rife with bribery and corruption but not according to this report. It places Turkey in the 3rd category along with Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Panama, Russia, Venezuela, and Vietnam. In Turkey 6% of respondents said they had paid a bribe.

Maybe that doesn’t seem that good but bear in mind that neighbouring Greece, which is part of the EU, showed that 27% of respondents had paid a bribe.

Even the UK, with its anti corruption laws and policies, shows on the list with 2% of respondents saying they had made a ‘bung’ at some stage to get something done.

When it comes to public perceptions, Turkey scored better than the UK with regards to government and political efforts to fight corruption.

So next time someone says Turkey is rife with corruption tell them to read this article.

More details about the report and the work of Transparency International can be found on their website here.