Confidence in anti-corruption agencies increased significantly among citizens – poll results

Confidence in specialized anti-corruption agencies has increased significantly compared to 2021. The largest increase in public trust concerns the Security Service of Ukraine (40% trust the agency in 2023 compared to 12% in 2021) and the National Police (31% and 11%, respectively).

This is evidenced by the results of the poll on the state of corruption in Ukraine, which was presented at the country’s main discussion platform BrainHub at Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform.

The survey was conducted in the winter of 2023 and, for the first time since 2007, included three different representative samples of respondents to understand the perceptions and experiences of Ukrainian citizens living in different realities caused by the war: the Ukrainians who did not change their place of residence after russia’s full-scale invasion, internally displaced Ukrainians and Ukrainian refugees in foreign countries.

During the presentation of the survey results, Aider Khalilov, USAID/ENGAGE representative, noted that corruption is considered a very serious problem in Ukraine today.

“The level of rejection and intolerance to corruption is actually increasing from year to year. In previous years it was 42%. Now 53% of the population do not accept and do not tolerate corruption in society,” he explained.

According to the results of the survey, internally displaced Ukrainians demonstrate the greatest optimism in their perception and assessment of the level of corruption and anti-corruption activities among all three groups of respondents, while Ukrainian refugees in other countries are disappointed with anti-corruption progress in Ukraine

The majority of citizens, despite the fact that today they know little about how special anti-corruption agencies are informed about the fight against corruption, consider these authorities to be effective in this matter. Thus, 50% of citizens are optimistic and believe that the corresponding agencies are fighting corruption extremely effectively.

According to Aider Khalilov, Ukrainians believe that the government has become less corrupt. In addition, citizens feel that they can influence what is happening in both the anti-corruption sphere and the fight against corruption.

The expert also added that today citizens trust and believe that the authorities are dealing with corruption effectively.

“Citizens today have really expressed their trust in state authorities and public organizations clearly and abundantly, they have given such a credit of trust. And the task of public organizations and state authorities, especially anti-corruption institutions, is to turn this trust and this reserve of energy that citizens have into effective anti-corruption measures,” he emphasized.

Aider Khalilov also noted that Ukrainians abroad are the most pessimistic about what is happening in Ukraine in the fight against corruption. He is convinced that, given the fact that “there are many of them, and in one way or another they will influence the trajectory of Ukraine’s development, we will need to think about how to involve the citizens, who are currently abroad, in the transformations happening in Ukraine.” 

BrainHub is the country’s main discussion platform created by Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform. It brings together experts from the state and civil society sectors. BrainHub hosts intellectual discussions around the issues of the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. It’s the birthplace of the best ideas that will become the foundation for the road map of Ukraine’s reconstruction in all sectors: economy, infrastructure, education, agriculture, security, digital, etc. 

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