Sources: Transparencia Mexicana, Financial Times

Transparencia Mexicana, a chapter of the corruption watchdog group Transparency International, conducted a survey of 13,790 households in 2000 in order to measure corruption nationwide. The survey found that Mexico’s capital, Mexico City, heads the list of areas in the country with the highest incidence of corruption, followed by Guerrero, Puebla, Jalisco and Michoacan states. In Mexico City, for every 100 public services, 22.6 percent (of the 38 administrative procedures tracked) in the survey required bribes.

The Fox administration, which launched a campaign in 2001 to end the “culture of corruption”, cites a lack of properly trained officials and widespread social acceptance of both bribe-givers and takers. Fox anti-corruption czar and Minister of Comptrollership and Administrative Development, Francisco Barrio estimates that it will take 30 years to eradicate corruption in Mexico.