Bribery rampant in public services: BRTA tops list, law enforcement close behind, finds BBS survey
According to the survey, people had to pay bribes to public officials in a total of 21 types of government offices.
Citizen Perception Survey findings:
- 63.29% of service seekers reported paying bribes at BRTA
- Over 31% of citizens experienced bribery in the past year
- Those who experienced bribery include men (38.62%), women (22.71%)
- High bribery rates reported in law enforcement (61.94%), passport offices (57.45%), and land-related offices (over 50%)
- 19.31% of people faced discrimination or harassment
- Nearly half of harassment incidents occurred within families, followed by public transport/open spaces and workplaces
Among public service institutions, people in the past year faced the highest level of bribery and corruption at the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), where 63.29% of service seekers said they had to bribe an official to receive a service.
This was followed by law enforcement agencies (61.94%), passport offices (57.45%), land registry offices (54.92%), judges or magistrates, prosecutors, and others (53.77%), and land record/acquisition/settlement office (51.40%), according to the Citizen Perception Survey (CPS) conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
According to the survey, people had to pay bribes to public officials in a total of 21 types of government offices.
The survey, published today (19 June), showed that more than 31% of citizens who accessed public services in the past year reported experiencing bribery or corruption, the rate significantly higher among men (38.62%) than women (22.71%).
The BBS conducted the nationwide survey in February 2025, interviewing 831,807 citizens aged 18 and above across 64 districts. Data was collected from 45,868 mouzas or mahallas using 1,920 primary sampling units.
The survey also revealed that 19.31% of the population experienced some form of discrimination or harassment in the past year. The incidence was slightly higher among women (19.62%) than men (18.97%), and urban residents reported more such experiences (22.01%) than those in rural areas (18.07%).
Socioeconomic status was cited as the leading cause of discrimination (6.82%), followed by gender (4.47%).
Most incidents occurred within the family (48.44%), in public transport or open spaces (31.30%), and at the workplace (25.97%). Despite this, only 5.35% of victims reported these incidents.
The survey also found that 16.16% of respondents had faced disputes or conflicts in the past two years. Of them, 83.60% were able to access either formal or informal dispute resolution mechanisms.
Among these, 41.34% received support through formal institutions such as courts or law enforcement, while 68.96% sought help through informal means like community leaders or local legal advisors.
Tk1.46 lakh cr in bribes paid for services since 2009, passport most corrupt: TIB
Earlier in December 2024, a Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) survey highlighted that the highest incidents of corruption were reported by Bangladeshis seeking services at the passport, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) and law enforcement offices.
Between 2009 and April 2024, public service seekers paid an estimated Tk1.46 lakh crore in bribes for various essential services, with Tk10,902.3 crore in bribes paid in 2023 alone. On average, the highest bribes were paid for judicial services.
