World Bank Group · Firms Expecting to Make Informal Payments to Public Officials
Firms making informal payments by country
What share of firms say businesses like theirs pay officials to get things done?
Of the 172 countries compared in the 2026 edition, Kuwait had the lowest reading, 0.000%, and Iraq had the highest reading, 50.964%. In the middle country the figure was 6.460%. 9 readings from before 2016 are listed but not compared.
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Part ofGovernance & Institutions
Firms making informal payments · the 2026 edition
Context statistic
Lowest of 172Kuwait
0.000%01the 2026 edition · position · derived
Who leads
The three countries at the lowest end of 172 compared, the three at the other end, and the first on each continent.
1Photo: Jack Versloot · CC BY 2.0, greyscale
2Photo: Ximonic , Simo Räsänen · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale
3Photo: derivative work: Jjtkk · CC BY-SA 2.0, greyscale
Highest in the 2026 edition
Iraq50.964%
Cambodia46.292%
Papua New Guinea43.367%
Where a country sits says how it compares with the others measured, and nothing about why.
02Every measured country
Firms making informal payments on a map
Each country is shaded by its value, in five groups holding the same number of countries. Hover a country for its value, or select it to open its profile. Below the map, each continent’s middle country.
Darker is a lower value — the better end.
- 19.477–50.964%
- 9.403–19.121%
- 4.714–9.212%
- 1.655–4.659%
- 0.000–1.596%
- Hatched: a reading from before 2016, listed but not compared (9)
- No reading in the 2026 edition
- Europe
2.259%
the middle country, of 40 measured · 49 members
Norway0.048%
Ukraine24.300%Lowest and highest reading in Europe.
- Americas
4.377%
the middle country, of 28 measured · 48 members
Panama0.162%
Bolivia22.450%Lowest and highest reading in Americas.
- Oceania
5.529%
the middle country, of 9 measured · 21 members
Australia0.144%Papua New Guinea43.367%Lowest and highest reading in Oceania.
- Asia
6.706%
the middle country, of 45 measured · 52 members
Kuwait0.000%Iraq50.964%Lowest and highest reading in Asia.
- Africa
16.177%
the middle country, of 50 measured · 55 members
Egypt0.370%
Gambia42.319%Lowest and highest reading in Africa.
- Every region
22 sub-regions, lowest middle country first
- Northern Europe
0.658%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 13 members
Norway0.048%
Latvia2.509%Lowest and highest reading in Northern Europe.
- Western Europe
1.462%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 9 members
Switzerland0.341%
France6.133%Lowest and highest reading in Western Europe.
- Eastern Asia
1.828%
the middle country, of 6 measured · 8 members
Japan0.212%
Mongolia10.206%Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Asia.
- Southern Europe
3.141%
the middle country, of 13 measured · 17 members
Bosnia and Herzegovina0.140%
North Macedonia18.386%Lowest and highest reading in Southern Europe.
- Caribbean
3.286%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 24 members
Saint Lucia2.177%
Trinidad and Tobago7.891%Lowest and highest reading in Caribbean.
- Central America
3.488%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 8 members
Panama0.162%
Honduras10.850%Lowest and highest reading in Central America.
- Western Asia
5.636%
the middle country, of 15 measured · 19 members
Kuwait0.000%Iraq50.964%Lowest and highest reading in Western Asia.
- Eastern Europe
6.664%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 10 members
Bulgaria0.717%Ukraine24.300%Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Europe.
- South-eastern Asia
8.159%
the middle country, of 11 measured · 11 members
Singapore0.983%Cambodia46.292%Lowest and highest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- South America
8.472%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 12 members
Uruguay0.876%Bolivia22.450%Lowest and highest reading in South America.
- Southern Africa
8.623%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 5 members
South Africa1.487%
Lesotho10.230%Lowest and highest reading in Southern Africa.
- Southern Asia
11.713%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 9 members
Bhutan1.773%
Bangladesh30.680%Lowest and highest reading in Southern Asia.
- Central Asia
12.391%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 5 members
Tajikistan4.978%
Kyrgyzstan28.286%Lowest and highest reading in Central Asia.
- Eastern Africa
15.942%
the middle country, of 17 measured · 19 members
Mauritius1.454%
Uganda40.290%Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Western Africa
16.892%
the middle country, of 16 measured · 16 members
Cabo Verde0.586%Gambia42.319%Lowest and highest reading in Western Africa.
- Middle Africa
25.909%
the middle country, of 9 measured · 9 members
São Tomé and Príncipe16.119%
Central African Republic34.931%Lowest and highest reading in Middle Africa.
- Australia and New Zealand
2 of 2 measured — too few for a middle: Australia, New Zealand.
Australia0.144%
New Zealand0.737%Lowest and highest reading in Australia and New Zealand.
- Melanesia
4 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu.
Fiji2.251%Papua New Guinea43.367%Lowest and highest reading in Melanesia.
- Micronesia
1 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Kiribati.
Kiribati5.529%Lowest and highest reading in Micronesia.
- Northern Africa
3 of 6 measured — too few for a middle: Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia.
Egypt0.370%
Morocco34.740%Lowest and highest reading in Northern Africa.
- Northern America
2 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: Canada, United States.
United States0.591%
Canada5.355%Lowest and highest reading in Northern America.
- Polynesia
2 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Samoa, Tonga.
Samoa1.987%
Tonga11.045%Lowest and highest reading in Polynesia.
03The whole field at once
The spread
172 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 6.460%; a quarter are above 16.148%, and a quarter below 2.242%. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
04All 181 ever measured
Every country
In order, highest value first — position 1 is the highest value, the way World Bank Group’s own tables read. “=” marks a position shared with another country. World Bank Group ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. The question asks about other firms, not the respondent's own, so it measures a perception of how business is done rather than payments anyone admits to. For the share of firms actually asked for a bribe, see bribery incidence. Survey years differ between countries — check the year beside each reading.
Showing 25 of 181 countries
Values for the 2026 edition.
05In this edition
Firms making informal payments in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading
50.964%
Firms saying firms like theirs pay officials informally to get things done (%)
Lowest reading
0.000%
Firms saying firms like theirs pay officials informally to get things done (%)
06The measure
About firms making informal payments
This is the share of private firms that say businesses like theirs make informal payments or give gifts to public officials "to get things done" — with customs, taxes, licences, regulations or services. It comes from the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys and describes what firms believe is common practice around them.
What the number is: Firms saying firms like theirs pay officials informally to get things done (%).
07Where it fits
Connections
Its part in the Country Index, the statistics whose values line up most closely with it across countries, and others on the same subject.
In the Country Index
Context, with no vote
This statistic is published in full under Governance & Institutions, but does not help decide any Country Index standing.
Moves with
Where firms making informal payments is higher, these tend to be higher too.
- Bribery IncidenceWorld Bank Group · 172 countries in commonρ 0.81
- Informal Employment RateILO · 89 countries in commonρ 0.71
- Gender Inequality IndexUNDP Human Development Report Office · 160 countries in commonρ 0.69
Moves against
Where firms making informal payments is higher, these tend to be lower.
- Productive Capacities IndexUNCTAD · 170 countries in commonρ −0.72
- Climate Readiness (ND-GAIN)Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative (ND-GAIN), University of Notre Dame · 167 countries in commonρ −0.71
- Control of CorruptionWorld Bank Group · 172 countries in commonρ −0.71
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 377 statistics sharing at least 80 countries with this one. Two statistics that move together do not cause each other.
08Keep reading
Explore further
The subject
The data, edition by edition
More from World Bank Group
09Questions
Firms making informal payments: questions and answers
Which country has the lowest firms making informal payments?
Kuwait, at 0.000%, among the 172 countries compared in the 2026 edition.
Which country has the highest firms making informal payments?
Iraq, at 50.964%, among the 172 countries compared in the 2026 edition.
How many countries does the Firms Expecting to Make Informal Payments to Public Officials cover?
172 in the 2026 edition, and 181 at least once across all editions.
What is the world average firms making informal payments?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 172 compared in the 2026 edition, the figure was 6.460%.
Is this World Bank Group’s own ranking?
No. World Bank Group publishes the values but ranks nobody; the position on this page is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values, and equal values share a position.
How often is the Firms Expecting to Make Informal Payments to Public Officials published?
This site holds one edition, describing 2026.
Where does the data come from, and can I download it?
From World Bank Group, under CC BY 4.0. World Bank Enterprise Surveys on Data360, read from the full-precision bulk file, one reading per country from its most recent survey. Every edition is on this site’s Datasets pages as a full table, and downloads as a CSV file with every value unrounded.
10Method
Sources, method and citation
Source
Firms Expecting to Make Informal Payments to Public Officials — World Bank Group
World Bank Enterprise Surveys on Data360, read from the full-precision bulk file, one reading per country from its most recent survey.
Newest edition
Report year 2026Data year not recorded
Cite the source as: World Bank. Enterprise Surveys. Washington, DC: World Bank Group.
Licence: CC BY 4.0, checked 2026-10-03.
How this page reads the numbers
- World Bank Group ranks nobody on this measure. The position is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values; equal values share a position.
- Which end is better follows the publisher’s own reading of the measure.
- A country is named at an end only when it holds that value alone. Where several share it, the page says how many and names none first.
- The file gives each country’s most recent reading, so the rows are from different years. Readings from before 2016 are listed but left out of every comparison on this page.
- Values are stored exactly as published and trimmed only for display. “The middle country” is the median of the countries measured, not a world average.
The file itself, column by column — where it came from, what each column holds, and every edition as a CSV — is on its dataset page.
Photographs
The countries at the top of this statistic, from their profiles: Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale, each used under the licence named.
- Kuwait — Jack Versloot, CC BY 2.0
- Norway — Ximonic , Simo Räsänen, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Ireland — derivative work: Jjtkk, CC BY-SA 2.0
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Firms making informal payments by country: Firms Expecting to Make Informal Payments to Public Officials, data from World Bank Group. https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/firms-informal-payments