If Transparency International's Global Corruption Barometer, published today, is to be believed, global efforts to curb corruption are failing fairly dismally. The GCB differs from the more famous Corruption Perceptions Index because it is a poll of ordinary citizens, not experts.
Asked if they thought corruption had got better or worse in the last three years, 91,000 working men and women around the world have given their emphatic response. 85% of Asians, 89% of Latin Americans, 76% of Africans, and a headline-worthy 97% of Europeans say that corruption has either stayed the same or got worse. So much for the world being on a trajectory towards the bright uplands of transparency and accountability. We appear to be moving backwards.
Those are the figures that stand out. But the fact is that corruption is not news. It is the backdrop to everyday life for much of the world.
What does it mean in real life? Well, a third of respondents under the age of 30 report paying a bribe in the past 12 months. In Sub-Saharan Africa that figure is far higher, with over a half of all respondents paying a bribe in the last 12 months. Payments to the police to get off a petty charge; payments to the hospital to get a decent bed for an ill relative; payments to the land registry to properly log a piece of land.
One in four people reported paying bribes in the last year and 29% said they had paid a bribe to the police. In Sub-Saharan Africa nearly half questioned had paid bribes to the police. In the EU the highest percentage of bribes was to Customs. The report also says political parties are the most corrupt of institutions around the world. In a scoring system ranging one to five, five meaning extremely corrupt, political parties scored 4.2 with parliament, legislature, police, public officials and civil servants following close behind.
The problem is not only that poor people are being made even poorer by a range of informal charges. The problem is that people with more money can pay bigger bribes. So you don't get that good bed after all; your child doesn't get into a decent school; your land is not registered but instead is sold off without your knowledge. Why? Because having the law on your side is not enough if you are poor and corruption is endemic.
So another year, another bribery report. Political parties are the sectors most liable to be corrupt. Still, just like in the 2007 and 2006 reports. The poor pay the most from petty bribery.
There is no obvious solution to corruption, any more than there is to theft, which is what it is. Rising living standards seem to be correlated to reduced petty corruption, with only 5% of respondents in the rich world paying bribes in the last year (note that grand corruption is a different matter). But, ultimately, human beings tend to act in ways they think they will get away with. Corruption's greatest friend is impunity. Only when law is enforced will corruption begin to ebb.
The key data is below, with perception, bribery percentages and the institutions believed to be the most corrupt. What can you do with it?
Download the data
• DATA: download the full spreadsheet
Development and aid data
• Search the world's world's global development data with our gateway
World government data
• Search the world's government with our gateway
Can you do something with this data?
Flickr Please post your visualisations and mash-ups on our Flickr group or mail us at datastore@guardian.co.uk
• Get the A-Z of data
• More at the Datastore directory
• Follow us on Twitter
Data summary