Judiciary is perceived as the single most corrupt institution in Armenia, followed by public officials and civil servants as well as parliament, according to the latest report released by a global anti-graft watchdog.

Political parties, business/private sector as well as media are also mentioned by Armenian respondents in the global public opinion survey, 2009 Global Corruption Barometer, released by
Berlin-based Transparency International on Wednesday.

The survey had drawn more than 73,000 respondents from 69 countries and territories around the world.

Also, Armenia has been shown in the second group of nations “reported to be most affected by bribery”. Forty-three percent of respondents in Armenia said “yes” when asked if in the past 12 months they or anyone living in their household paid a bribe in any form.

Armenia’s geographical neighbor Azerbaijan is also its neighbor in this group, as 49 percent of respondents there answered in the affirmative. In Russia, which is also one of this group, 31 percent said “yes”.

Meanwhile, only two percent of respondents in Turkey and Georgia said they or their family members paid a bribe in the preceding year. Both are shown in the group of countries “least affected by bribery” along with several Western and Central European democracies.

According to the survey, “the perception of government effectiveness in relation to addressing corruption appears to have increased in Armenia.”

Among other countries where this perception has risen over the past year are Cambodia, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Norway.

At the same time, this perception, according to the report, has decreased in Bosnia
& Herzegovina, Greece, Malaysia, Panama, the Philippines, Senegal, Spain, Thailand, Turkey and Venezuela.

Transparency International is a global civil society organization leading the fight against corruption and raising awareness of its damaging effects through more than 90 chapters worldwide and an international secretariat in Berlin,Germany. It also works with partners in government, business and civil society to develop and implement effective measures to tackle it.

The full report is available on www.transparency.org