Corruption is the biggest problem for the citizens who are not optimistic that it will decrease in the future. According to citizens, judges, ministers, MPs, mayors and prosecutors are the most corrupt, according to a corruption assessment survey conducted by the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCIC).

A total of 80 percent of respondents believe that the desire to get rich quick for those in power affects the prevalence of corruption, and a significant factor is the lack of strict administrative control over corruption, non-enforcement of laws and insufficient protection of those who report corruption.

Although about one third of the citizens (33.7 percent) were exposed to corrupt pressure, and 32.9 percent were involved in corruption, corruption remains unpunished. This percentage, translated into absolute numbers, assuming that these are individual cases, shows that there are potentially over 550,000 acts committed. In 2020, a total of 82 people were convicted of abuse of office or bribery, ie the efficiency rate of institutions of 0.015 percent, that is the percentage of cases processed compared to those we assume to occur, according to MCIC.

A small number of citizens or only four percent said they would pay a bribe, and 17 percent would pay if they could afford it. In contrast, 45 percent would not pay at all, and 31 percent would not pay if there was another way to solve the problem.

Almost three quarters of the citizens think that there is a possibility or high probability of corrupt pressure in the future. On a scale of one to five, where one means that there is no corruption at all, and five high-level corruption, 75 percent of citizens gave the highest marks for the spread of corruption in the courts, 71 percent for the spread of corruption in the prosecution and over 66 percent believe that corruption is widespread in the Government and Customs.

In terms of trust in anti-corruption institutions, almost 33 percent of citizens have full or partial trust in tackling corruption in the Government, 30 percent in the Ministry of Interior, and State Corruption Prevention is in third place with about 24 percent.

According to MCIC, the trust in these institutions has significantly decreased compared to 2019 and 2018.

The survey for the needs of MCIC was conducted by IPSOS on a representative sample of 1,014 adults. The survey was conducted in the period from April 27 to May 20 this year.