Among the Ukrainians surveyed, 57% believe that corruption cannot be justified under any circumstances. In 2017, only a third of citizens held this opinion. At the same time, according to respondents, the level of corruption in the country is growing.
This was shown by the results of annual research conducted by Info Sapiens at the request of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC). The survey was conducted from September to November 2024 among the population and enterprises.
In 2015, every fifth Ukrainian considered bribes and unofficial favors acceptable, and half admitted the possibility of using corruption to solve their own problems, according to data from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.
In 2024, 14.6% of respondents justified corruption, while almost 60% completely rejected such practices (according to a study commissioned by the NAPC). The biggest jump in attitudes towards corruption occurred in 2022, when over 57% of Ukrainians declared zero tolerance for bribes. This level of anti-corruption views has been maintained for three years in a row.
The willingness to report corruption has also increased: in 2017, it was only 14.7% of citizens, and in 2024, it was already a third. In 2023, almost 10% of those who encountered corruption turned to law enforcement agencies (in 2017, there were less than 2%). At the same time, cases of corruption themselves have become rarer: in 2020, 27% of Ukrainians encountered them, and in 2024, 18.7%.
Among the population in 2024, corruption ranks second among social problems — 79.4% of surveyed Ukrainians consider it very serious, which is 7.8% higher than the similar indicator in 2023. As for business representatives, 76% believe so — this is 3% more than in 2023.
Both categories consider political corruption to be the most serious type of corruption — 80.2 and 26.8%, respectively.
Entrepreneurs assess the level of corruption in their field as lower than in the country as a whole — in 2024, this indicator is 2.35 points out of 5 (for comparison: it was 2.17% in 2022).
The most corrupt sectors on a five-point scale are considered by the population to be the judiciary (4.49), customs (4.40), and border control (4.26). Business singles out customs (4.47), permitting and mining (4.45), and public procurement in road construction and repair (4.42).
In 2024, 69.1% of Ukrainians believed that the level of corruption had increased (compared to 61.2% in 2023), of which 35.6% believed that it had increased significantly. 57% of businessmen held the same opinion (compared to 46.3% in 2023), and 31.4% noted a sharp increase (in 2023 the figure was 22.5%).
Citizens and businesses traditionally place responsibility for fighting corruption on the president, parliament, and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU). In 2024, the business community added the Cabinet of Ministers and ministries to this list.
The effectiveness of anti-corruption activities of state bodies in 2024 decreased for the second year in a row, although the indicators still exceed the level of 2021. Respondents consider the SBU to be the most effective in the fight against corruption, but its assessment also deteriorated. At the same time, awareness of anti-corruption bodies has increased: the most well-known are the National Police (23.5% among the population and 46.1% among businesses), NABU (8.7 and 22.8%), and the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) (8.7 and 22.5%).
Awareness of electronic services that replace corruption schemes is significantly higher among businesses (59.9%) than among the population (36.1%), although the latter indicator has increased from 29.4% in 2023. The most popular among citizens are electronic queue and medical services, and among entrepreneurs — the electronic account on the State Tax Service website.
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