The overwhelming majority of Ukrainians consider corruption to be a very widespread phenomenon and the biggest problem in the country, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at Telegram, Facebook, Classmates or In contact with
This is evidenced by data from a survey conducted by the Ilk Kucherev Democratic Initiatives Foundation and the Ukrainian Sociology Service company.
Presenting the results of the survey at a press conference on Tuesday in Kiev, the director of the foundation, Irina Bekeshkina, noted that 90% of fellow citizens surveyed called corruption a very common phenomenon, 44% called it the biggest public problem in Ukraine, 36% called it a serious problem.
“What’s interesting is that Ukrainians condemn corruption at the top, but they themselves prefer to give bribes to resolve certain issues or to speed up the resolution of certain issues. I want to note that if we do not fight corruption at the bottom, it will be impossible to overcome corruption at the top,” she emphasized.
The sociologist noted that Ukrainians named the courts as the most corrupt bodies (52% of respondents), as well as parliament, the prosecutor's office, the government, customs and hospitals.
According to the survey, 40% of Ukrainians believe that it is unrealistic to overcome corruption, 30% consider it quite possible. According to those surveyed, the most effective will be repressive methods—conviction and serving prison sentences for corrupt officials. At the same time, half of the respondents noted that, in their opinion, such a method of fighting corruption as increasing salaries for officials would be ineffective.
Answering the question about the corruption of medical institutions, 16% of respondents noted that they had given bribes to employees of such institutions over the past three years.