A survey by the Ghana Statistical Service and its partners has revealed that an estimated amount of GH¢5 billion was paid as bribes in the year 2021.

The report dubbed ‘2021 Ghana Integrity of Public Services Survey’ indicates that 26.7% public sector officials and 9.1% private sector players engaged in bribery acts.

The survey was conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service in collaboration with other stakeholders in the fight against corruption.

The report also said corruption was prevalent within the Ghana Police Service.

The service recorded 53.2% of corruption cases, followed by the Ghana Immigration Service and the Ghana Revenue Authority with 37.4% and 33.6% respectively.

According to the survey, people with the highest level of (tertiary) education were 1.6 times more likely to have paid a bribe than people with no formal education.

Also, ten out of the 16 administrative regions recorded a prevalence of bribery higher than the national average.

There are, however, sizable variations across the 16 regions of the country.

The prevalence of bribery in the Bono East, Savannah and Volta regions, for example, is substantially lower than the national rate, at 11.8, 14.5 and 19.1 per cent, respectively.

Also in the Western North, Ahafo and North East regions, bribery is substantially higher, at 53.4, 47.0 and 41.9 per cent, respectively.