Lithuanians view doctors, MPs, judges, municipalities as most corrupt – survey

VILNIUS - Less than a tenth of the Lithuanian population say they have given bribes over the past 12 months, and people consider medical institutions, the Seimas, courts, municipalities and political parties to be the most corrupt, according to a survey by the country's Special Investigation Service, published on Tuesday.

"In Lithuania, bribery is becoming less and less widespread, but people still view corruption as a problem. In the public opinion, corruption is most widespread in medical institutions, the Seimas, courts, municipalities and political parties. In addition, the perception of corruption in the energy sector has been declining for the third year in a row," SIS chief Linas Pernavas was quoted as saying in the statement.

According to Lithuania's latest corruption map, the number of people who have paid bribes has fallen from 24 percent to 9 percent over the last decade, but the corruption problem persists in Lithuania.

37 percent named corruption as a very serious problem in the country, and the latest survey puts corruption in fifth place among the 19 problems ranked, up from 34 percent two years ago.

Company executives ranked corruption as a very serious problem in the ninth place (24 percent), unchanged from 2022, while civil servants ranked it seventh (28 percent), down from 32 percent in 2022.

One in five respondents thought that the level of corruption had decreased over the past year, while one in four thought it was increasing.

The public, company executives and civil servants believe that medical institutions, the Seimas, courts, municipalities and political parties and politicians are the most corrupt.

At the local governance level, respondents identified public procurement departments or commissions, construction departments, land data departments, business licensing and permits departments and architecture and urban planning or territorial planning departments as the most corrupt.

The most common forms of corruption in Lithuania, according to the respondents, are nepotism, the patronage of political party members, and the adoption of laws that favor particular groups, as well as the exceeding of ones official powers. 

The survey of 1,001 Lithuanian residents, 503 business executives and 1,374 civil servants was conducted by Kokybes Ekspertai, a market research company, in January-June.