ISLAMABAD – A recent survey by Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) has revealed that police, procurement and tendering, and the judiciary are perceived as the most corrupt sectors in the country.
The survey, titled the National Corruption Perception Survey (NCPS) 2025, also indicated that provincial governments are viewed as more corrupt than local governments.
According to the survey, 77% of respondents expressed dissatisfaction with government efforts to curb corruption. The dissatisfaction was most pronounced at the provincial level, with 80% in Balochistan, 78% in Punjab, and 75% in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) expressing concern over ineffective anti-corruption measures.
Despite the negative perception, 66% of people reported that they had not been asked for bribes for government services in the past year. However, bribery was most common in Sindh, where 46% of respondents reported paying bribes, followed by Punjab at 39%, Balochistan at 31%, and KP at 20%.
Economically, 57% of citizens said their purchasing power had decreased over the past 12 months, while 43% felt the situation had improved. Despite this, 58% agreed that the government had stabilized the economy through measures like withdrawing from the IMF program and FATF commitments.
In political funding, 42% of respondents called for a complete ban on political party funding from businesses, while 41% advocated for regulated funding. Regarding government advertisements, 55% of citizens felt that political party names and leaders’ images should be banned from such ads.
The survey, conducted from September 22 to 29, 2025, also found a lack of trust in accountability institutions, with 78% of respondents calling for self-accountability of organizations like NAB and FIA. The primary reasons cited for increasing corruption included lack of accountability (15%), lack of transparency (15%), and delays in decision-making (14%).
Hospitals were reported as the most corrupt sector in healthcare, with 67% of people believing corruption negatively impacts lives. The issue was most prominent in Sindh, where 49% of respondents cited hospital corruption. The survey also found that 70% of people were unaware of any corruption reporting mechanisms, and only 43% of those who knew about them had ever reported a case.
It revealed that 51% of respondents believed that tax-exempt charities and NGOs should not charge fees, and 53% felt these institutions should disclose their donations and funding publicly.
