Household Corruption in Mongolia Drops to Record Low

On December 9, The Asia Foundation’s Mongolia office released its 10th Corruption Benchmarking Survey (CBS), the only tool that measures both public perceptions of institutional corruption, and the impact of petty corruption on the day-to-day life of Mongolian households. Through random, face-to-face interviews, a sample of 1,000 adults were asked about bribe requests, frequency, and amount, as well as their confidence in government and public institutions in combating corruption. While some figures suggest that Mongolia is chipping away at its long battle to combat corruption – corruption dropped from the third to the fourth biggest concern of the respondents, and the percentage of households that paid a bribe in a 3-month timeframe decreased to 13 percent – average bribe amounts jumped to an all-time high of MNT 416,000 (approximately $315).

Although there is significant distance to cover before Mongolia eradicates corruption, many signs are pointing in the right direction. Conducted twice a year in collaboration with the Sant Maral Foundation, the Benchmarking Survey provides a unique and robust tool for government policy-makers, enforcement bodies, and civil society groups to observe and assess the impact of government and non-government initiatives to fight corruption in Mongolia.