A majority of respondents to Transparency International Pakistan (TIP)’s latest corruption perception survey have deemed police the most corrupt sector of the country, citing lack of accountability and lack of transparency and limited access to information among the major causes of corruption.
The National Corruption Perception Survey 2025 had 3,989 respondents, with 55% of them male, 43% female, and 2% transgender. Among the respondents, 303 were persons with disabilities. TIP has noted the sample size is significantly larger than the 2023 survey, which had 1,600 respondents.
According to the results, 24% of respondents perceived police the most corrupt sector in Pakistan, followed by tender and procurement (16%), and the judiciary (14%). Encouragingly, reads the report, 66% of respondents reported they did not experience a situation where they felt compelled to offer bribe to access any public service. Among the respondents, it said, Sindh had the largest proportion who paid bribes to access public service (46%), followed by Punjab (39%), Balochistan (31%) and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (20%).
The respondents said 57% of them had seen their purchasing power decrease over the past 12 months, while 43% felt their purchasing power increased. While 42% believed the government had not succeeded in stabilizing the economy through the ongoing Extended Fund Facility with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), 40% said it had “partially” succeeded, while 18% said it had “fully” stabilized the economy.
Nationwide, respondents cited lack of accountability (15%) as a major cause of corruption, followed by lack of transparency and limited access to information (15%), and delays in the disposal of corruption cases (14%). A majority (59%) said they saw provincial governments as more corrupt compared to local governments. This view as highest in Punjab (70%), followed by Balochistan (58%), Khyber-Pakhunkhwa (55%) and Sindh (54%).
A majority of 78% of respondents believe there should be accountability of anti-corruption bodies such as NAB and FIA, citing lack of transparency in investigations by anti-corruption bodies (35%), absence of independent oversight of anti-corruption bodies (33%), and misuse of anti-corruption bodies’ powers for political victimization (32%) as the reasons for greater accountability. To curb corruption, respondents supported enhancing accountability (26%), limiting discretionary powers (23%) and strengthening Right to Information laws (20%).
Of the respondents, 33% saw provincial Anti-Corruption Establishments as “non-effective,” while 34% view them as less effective. A majority of respondents (77%) are dissatisfied with the government’s efforts to combat corruption, while 67% believe corrupt or unethical practices in the healthcare sector have a very high impact on people’s lives. According to 38% of respondents, hospitals are the main site of corruption in the health sector, followed by doctors (23%), and pharmaceuticals (21%). Nationally, 23% of respondents believe stricter policies against pharmaceutical companies’ commission to doctors would prove most effective in addressing corruption in the healthcare sector. However, 20% believe banning private practice by public doctors would prove most effective and 16% feel strengthening capacity of health sector regulatory bodies would be beneficial.
Nationally, 42% of respondents have called for banning business funding to political parties and politicians to reduce corruption, with 41% saying it should be “allowed with regulation.” Overall, 55% support a complete ban on the use of political parties’ names and leadership pictures in public advertisements.
Around 42% of respondents said they would feel safe reporting corruption if strong whistleblower protection laws were in place, while 70% said they were unaware of any official reporting mechanisms to report corruption and corrupt practices. Of the 30% aware of corruption reporting channels, just 43% have ever reported corruption or unethical practice. The respondents said two key factors motivating citizens to report corruption are anonymity mechanisms in the reporting channels (38%) and rewards for reporting corruption (37%).
The survey has found 51% of respondents believe NGOs, hospitals, trusts, medical testing laboratories, educational institutions and other charitable organizations receiving tax exemptions from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) should not charge any fees from the public. A majority (53%) believe tax-exempted charitable institutions should publicly disclose the names of their donors and donation amounts on their website.