The United Nations marks December 9 each year as International Anti-Corruption Day to raise awareness about the damaging effects of graft.
Corruption harms ordinary people, enterprises, and governments alike. It weakens public trust in authorities, stifles investment, reduces tax revenues, hampers basic service delivery, and fuels poverty and inequality. For some, corruption can be a matter of life and death.
And the data suggest corruption is spreading. In Africa, Afrobarometer’s face-to-face, nationally representative surveys tell the story in stark numbers. Citizens across the continent report rising levels of corruption, and they have the firsthand experience to back it up. Growing majorities also say people risk retaliation if they speak up to complain.
More report having to pay bribes
Between survey rounds in 2016/2018 and 2021/2023, the share of Africans who said they had to pay bribes to obtain key public services increased in 31 of 34 surveyed countries (see Figure 1). On average, 30% of respondents who had contact with public schools, public health facilities, government departments, and/or the police during the previous year said they paid a bribe at least once to receive assistance, obtain a government document, or avoid hassles with the police. That’s 8 percentage points more than the 2016/2018 surveys found.
Reported bribe paying was especially common in Liberia (65%) and Sierra Leone (60%) – up by 20 points and 14 points, respectively. Burkina Faso recorded the biggest jump – 26 points – tripling the share of those seeking public services who had to pay extra. Similarly, the share of respondents in Senegal reporting bribe payments nearly tripled, from 12% to 33%.
Benin is the only surveyed country showing major improvement: Bribe paying dropped from 21% to 13%, bringing Benin close to traditional top performers such as Cabo Verde (4%), Mauritius (9%), and Botswana (9%).
Figure 1: Payment of bribes to access public services | 34 African countries | 2016-2023
The figure shows the percentages in 2016/2018 (yellow circles) and 2021/2023 (green diamonds) who said they paid bribes “once or twice,” “a few times,” or “often.” (Respondents who did not have contact with these services are excluded.)
Overall levels of corruption are rising
Large-scale corruption scandals such as state capture in South Africa, the tuna bonds affair in Mozambique, and the Fishrot files in Namibia provide plenty of fuel for cynicism. But direct personal experience with bribe paying may also inform citizens’ perceptions of corruption in their societies. Across 39 countries surveyed in 2021/2023, a majority (58%) of people said the level of corruption in their country had increased over the previous year (see Figure 2).
Countries in southern Africa lead the way in perceptions of worsening corruption: 87% in Eswatini, 82% in South Africa, and 81% in Lesotho. And more than seven in 10 respondents in Namibia (75%) and Botswana (71%) agree. Overall, majorities in 27 countries think corruption levels have risen.
Here, too, Benin (13%) stands out with the best score, followed by Zambia (19%), Mali (21%), and the Seychelles (25%). In fact, 70% of respondents from Benin said corruption decreased during the previous year.
Figure 2: Level of corruption increased | 39 African countries | 2021/2023
Increasing suspicion of leaders
These perceptions are infecting every level of governance. In growing numbers, Africans see corruption across all four spheres of government – the executive, legislature, judiciary, and civil administration – and from local to national levels. Responses across 30 countries surveyed in both 2011/2013 and 2021/2023 suggest systemic failures of accountability and the rule of law across the continent.
The proportion of Africans who said that “most” or “all” officials within the presidency of their country are corrupt has increased from 25% to 38% – a 13-point jump over the decade (see Figure 3). The survey data show similar growth of perceived widespread corruption within parliament (+11 points) and the judicial system (+8 points).
And for civil servants and local government councillors, modest improvements after 2014 have been wiped out: Both are now 3 percentage points more likely to be seen as largely corrupt than they were a decade earlier.
Figure 3: Most/all seen as corrupt in key public institutions | 30* African countries | 2011-2023
(*Because not all questions were asked in all countries in all survey rounds, averages reflect 30 countries for the views on judiciary and civil servants, 29 countries for the presidency, 28 countries for local government councillors, and 26 countries for parliament.)
It’s increasingly risky to speak out
Another concerning signal is that a rising number of Africans point out that people risk retaliation if they report corruption to the authorities. On average, across 34 countries, 72% of respondents said people cannot inform authorities of graft without fear of negative consequences (+5 points since 2016/2018).
As shown in Figure 4, fear of retaliation is especially high in Gabon (91%), Nigeria (86%), Eswatini (85%), Kenya (83%), Cameroon (82%), Botswana (82%), and Uganda (81%), and increased in each of these countries compared to 2016/2018. Morocco is the only surveyed country where fewer than half (47%) of citizens think that reporting corruption is dangerous.
Benin again records a notable improvement – a decrease from 65% to 54% on this question. Burkina Faso again leads the movement in the opposite direction, registering a 24-point boost in the share of those who think reporting corruption is risky.
The Gambia, the only country in the 2016/2018 survey round where a majority did not expect negative repercussions, has seen a notable increase of 13 percentage points, pushing it above the halfway mark (52%).
Figure 4: Citizens risk retaliation if they report corruption | 34 African countries | 2016-2023
Where to turn?
Of course, corruption is not just a challenge in Africa. Organizations such as Transparency International report rising corruption across the globe, in countries of all sizes and levels of economic development. Once it entrenches itself in a system, corruption has a tendency to continue spreading. Fighting corruption effectively requires courageous and committed political and business leaders and other stakeholders – including engaged citizens who feel safe speaking up.
African citizens are clearly waving red flags on this International Anti-Corruption Day, though these survey results may also point us toward a source of inspiration. For example, is Benin, which bucks the alarming trends in overall corruption levels, bribe paying, and risk of retaliation, doing something right? Citizens’ voices suggest that Benin’s anti-corruption reforms and prosecutions are instilling public confidence that the fight is not lost.
Rehan Visser is an editor for Afrobarometer.
