ACRC stated that "a positive perception of integrity and fairness has spread across society”

-“Result of 2022 Corruption Perception Survey” is released –

(28 December, 2022, ACRC)

According to the "2022 Corruption Perception Survey,” the perception — society and the public offices are corrupt — improved among every survey participant compared to the last year. Moreover, the perception of the level of fairness in society improved compared to that of last year.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (Chairperson Jeon Hyun-Heui, ACRC) carried out the 2022 Corruption Perception Survey and released the survey result regarding ▴perception of corruption in society as a whole, ▴perception of corruption level of public offices, ▴experiences of corruption, ▴perception of fairness level, and ▴effectiveness of the government's anti corruption policy implementation.

The ACRC has conducted the Corruption Perception Survey every year since 2002 in order to examine the effectiveness of existing anti-corruption policies and use it as basic data for establishing policies in the future.

This year, the survey was carried out on two separate occasions in June and October, involving 1,400 general people, 700 business people, 630 experts, 400 foreigners, and 1,400 public officials.

Perception of corruption in society as a whole

As for the level of corruption in society as a whole, the ratio of response — society is corrupt (Very corrupt + Relatively corrupt) — was the highest among general people (54.4%), followed by experts (39.0%), business people (36.0%), and public officials (8.0%) in order of highest ratio.
 

<Perception of Corruption in Society in 2022>

       Compared to the last year, the perception — society is corrupt — improved among every survey participant, and

       corruption perception among business people, in particular, dropped by 19.0%p, being improved the most.

Though it was highly perceived that society at large is corrupt due to large-scale corruption, such as the real estate scandal of Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), last year, people’s perception generally improved this year.

< Changes in the ratio of response — society is “corrupt”>

                                                                                                                                    (Unit: %, %p)

By social fields (11)^*, general people, experts, and foreigners chose “political parties and legislation,” and business people and public officials chose “media” as the most corrupt area. At the same time, the cleanest field chosen by general people, business people, and experts was “education," while foreigners and public officials chose “civic groups” and “administrative agencies," respectively.
 

* Political parties and legislation, judicial field, administrative agencies, state owned companies, private companies, media, religious groups, civic groups,  

  education, art and culture, labor unions and labor groups

                                                                                                          (Unit: point)

※ Corruption Perceptions Index: 5-point scale is converted into a scale of 10, and the higher the point is, the cleaner it is.

Perception of corruption level of public offices

As for the level of corruption in public offices, there was a large gap in corruption perception of public offices, where public officials accounted for 3.3% of the response — public officials are corrupt (Very corrupt + Relatively corrupt) — while general people accounted for 38.6%.

<Perception of Corruption Level of Public Offices in 2022>

Compared to the last year, every survey participant, except for public officials, had an improved perception — the public offices are corrupt — and that of business people, in particular, improved the most.

                                                                                                                                                (Unit: %, %p)

By administrative fields (11)^*, general people, experts, and public officials chose “housing and land” as the most corrupt area, while business people responded that “legal affairs” is the most corrupt area. Most of the survey participants chose “firefighting” as the cleanest field.

* Education, police, tax affairs, firefighting, military affairs and national defense, housing and land, legal affairs, health care, food hygiene, environment, and procurement

                                                                                                          (Unit: point)

Experiences of corruption

0.4% (0.4% in 2021) of general people, 0.1% (8.6% in 2021) of business people, and 0.3% (2.5% in 2021) of foreigners experienced provision of money, goods, entertainment, etc. to public officials and the rate of experience among business people and foreigners dramatically decreased compared to the last year.

0.5% (0.7% in 2021) of general people, 0.1% (10.4% in 2021) of business people, and 0.5% (5.0% in 2021) of foreigners experienced improper solicitation directly or through a third party, which all sharply decreased compared to the last year.

Level of fairness in society

There was a gap in the perception of fairness where experts accounted for 52.1% of the response — society is “unfair (Very unfair + Relatively unfair)" — while public officials accounted for 16.4%.

                                                                                                         (Unit: %, %p)

Compared to the last year, the perception — society is “unfair” — improved

among every survey participant, and that of business people, in particular,

improved the most, with its response ratio dropping by 29.3%p.

Effectiveness of the government's anti-corruption policy implementation

Regarding the effectiveness of anti-corruption policy implementation by the government, the rate of response — not at all effective — decreased among every survey participant compared to the last year, which proves that the perception of effectiveness has improved.

                                                                                                          (Unit: %, %p)

ACRC Anti-Corruption Bureau Director General Han Sam-Seok said, “It turns out that positive perception of integrity and fairness spreads across society thanks to the implementation of various anti-corruption policies by the government. The ACRC will make efforts for the culture of integrity and fairness to further spread so that members of society could experience the first-hand changes in anti corruption.”