Mexico has worst bribery problem in Latin America: survey

The payment of bribes to access basic public services is more common in Mexico than any other country in the region, according to a new report on corruption in Latin America and the Caribbean.

More than 20,000 people across the region were polled for the report, entitled People and Corruption: Latin America and the Caribbean.

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Fifty-one per cent of Mexicans surveyed said when accessing public services over the previous 12 months they had to pay a bribe. That figure placed the country ahead of the Dominican Republic, which came in second worst at 46%, while most other countries in the region recorded rates between 20 and 40%.

In the region as a whole approximately one out of every three people surveyed had paid a bribe to access government services in the past year although the figure went as low as 6% in Trinidad and Tobago and 11% in Brazil.

The services Mexicans most frequently pay bribes for are related to schools, health care, personal documentation and utilities, the report said. Between 21 and 30% of Mexican respondents also said that they had paid bribes to the police while between 1 and 10% said they had done so in court-related matters.

Both the rich and the poor paid bribes, the report said, but those of limited economic means did so at a slightly higher rate and it had a much greater impact on their finances.

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Source: mexiconewsdaily.com