This year’s survey is the biggest ever, covering 91,500 people in 86 countries.

Hungary’s 76% figure is the second highest in Europe after Romania. The average in the 19 EU countries surveyed was 73%. Only 4% of Hungarian respondents said corruption had decreased in the past three years.

Hungarians ranked political parties as most liable to be corrupt, followed by the business sector and Parliament.

Bribes in Hungary are most common in the health care sector, as 26% of respondents admitted to paying “gratitude money” to doctors this year, up from 18% in 2009, an extremely high number compared to other countries, TI said.

Although the vast majority of respondents said they would report corruption, in reality most people, 63% fail to take action.

Transparency’s Hungarian executive director Noémi Alexa said the figures are not surprising, given the current Hungarian legal environment and the end result of long and enduring corruption cases.

Regulations to protect whistleblowers need to be created, she added.

Bence Rétvári, state secretary at the Justice Ministry, said there will be a special chapter dedicated to public finances in the new constitution."

Source: Hungary Around the Clock

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