Corruption in Germany

Corruption in Germany describes the prevention and occurrence of corruption in Germany. Transparency International's 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index scored Germany at 75 on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"). When ranked by score, Germany ranked 15th among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector.^[1] For comparison with regional scores, the highest score among Western European and European Union countries ^{[Note 1]} was 90, the average score was 64 and the lowest score was 41.^[2] For comparison with worldwide scores, the best score was 90 (ranked 1), the average score was 43, and the worst score was 8 (ranked 180).^[3]

Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer 2013 reveals that political parties and businesses are the most corrupt institutions in Germany. The same report also indicates that petty corruption is not as common as in other European countries. The survey shows that 11% of the respondents claim to have been asked to pay a bribe at one point in their life and only few of those said that they had refused to pay the bribe.^[4]

According to Freedom House's report, Germany’s ability to ensure integrity and to prevent corruption in state bodies is generally sufficient due to a strong institutional setup.^[5]

Regarding business and corruption, business executives from World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2013-2014 consider tax regulations and restrictive labour regulations as the most problematic factors for doing business. They also report that trust in the ethical standards of politicians is relatively high, and that irregular payments and bribes only rarely take place in relation to public services.^[6]