1 in 6 Ghanaians paid bribes in late 2025 — GSS

The proportion of Ghanaians who paid a bribe to access a public service rose from 14.3% in the first half of 2025 to 18% in the second half, while requests for unofficial payments by public officials jumped from 51% to 69%, according to new governance data released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).

The findings indicate that about one in six Ghanaians paid a bribe during the second half of 2025, while nearly seven in 10 citizens who encountered bribery situations said public officials demanded extra payments.

Presenting the findings at a Governance Series event organised by Three Reports and the GSS on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, Government Statistician Dr Alhassan Iddrisu said citizens’ experiences with bribery worsened between July and December 2025, despite Ghana’s overall governance performance improving compared with 2024.

“The most recent six months, which is July to December 2025, got harder compared to the previous six months, which is January to June 2025,” he said.

“Over the last six months of 2025, the share who paid a bribe rose from 14.3% in the first half of 2025 to 18% in the second half of 2025. That is about one in six paid a bribe to a public official.”

Dr Iddrisu said the increase in demands for unofficial payments by public officials was even more pronounced.

“So the pressure sits at the counter. The problem now is less what citizens offer and more of what officials would ask.”

According to the survey, the proportion of citizens who reported that public officials demanded unofficial payments increased from 51% in the first half of 2025 to 69% in the second half.

Despite the worsening bribery indicators during the latter half of the year, Dr Iddrisu said the broader picture remained positive.

“The full year, which is 2025, got better compared to 2024. Both of these stories are true, and that’s the beauty of the six-monthly survey that we do, to be able to look at trends within waves and even compare between years,” he said.

He explained that the GSS governance survey tracks the same nationally representative households across all 16 regions, allowing changes in governance indicators to reflect actual changes in citizens’ experiences rather than differences in survey samples.

The latest findings cover citizens’ experiences between July and December 2025 and are based on interviews conducted with household heads during the first quarter of 2026.