Customs officers were also mentioned as one of the most corrupt professions with 58 percent of Lithuanians claiming they consider bribes and misuse of power to be widespread in this sector. The EU average is 31 percent.
The top five corrupt professions in Lithuania also include the police and national-level politicians (56 percent each). As compared to the EU average, the police is rated worse in Lithuania (4 percent of Europeans considers police officers corrupt), while national-level politicians have similar reputation (the EU average is 57 percent).
Lithuanians believe that representatives of various watchdogs in healthcare, construction, food quality, sanitation and other areas are next in line in terms of corruption and misuse of power. 54 percent of respondents believe that representatives of these institutions take bribes.
When it comes to officials in charge of selecting winners of public procurements, 52 percent of people surveyed considered them corrupt, followed by municipal politicians (51 percent), officials issuing construction permits (49 percent), and officials issuing business licenses (34 percent).
The lowest level of corruption is perceived in the education (29 percent) and private business sectors (25 percent).
The survey also showed that almost nine in ten Lithuanians (89 percent) believe that corruption is one of the major problems in the country. As compared to other EU member states, Lithuania ranks ninth in this respect. 74 percent of Europeans are of the opinion that corruption is a huge problem in their country, the Eurobarometer survey revealed.
27 percent of respondents in Lithuania claimed they had been asked or expected to give a bribe at least once in the past year. Respective results in Latvia were 16 percent, and 5 percent in Estonia. The EU average is 8 percent.
The survey in 27 EU member states was carried out last September.
