New governance data released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) shows that seven (7) out of every ten (10) citizens who encountered bribery while accessing government services in late 2025 were asked by public officials to make unofficial payments.

According to the GSS data, this indicates a sharp rise in bribery between the first and second halves of 2025, with the rate increasing from 14.3% in the first half to 18% in the second half, marking about a 3.7 percentage point increase.

Government Statistician Dr Alhassan Iddrisu, speaking at a Governance Series event organised by Three Reports and the GSS on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, said the findings showed conditions worsened over the last six months of 2025 even though the country’s overall performance for the year improved 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. 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 who paid a bribe to a public official,” he said.

He said requests for extra payments increased even more sharply, rising from 51% in the first half of 2025 to 69% in the second half.

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

While the bribery worsened in the second half of the year, the overall trend for the year 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.

The Government Statistician said the survey tracks the same nationally representative households across all 16 regions, allowing changes in governance indicators to reflect real changes in people’s experiences rather than differences in survey samples.

The findings cover citizens’ experiences between July and December 2025 and were collected during the first quarter of 2026 through interviews with household heads.

Meanwhile, in a related development, the National Tracking Poll by Global InfoAnalytics for June has ranked the Ghana Police Service as the most corrupt institution, according to Ghanaians.

The Police Service scored 6.45 out of 10 on the corruption perception index in the June 2026 National Tracking Poll conducted by Global InfoAnalytics.

After the Police Service, the second most corrupt institution is the Immigration Service, which ranked second with a score of 5.69, while Business Executives climbed to third position with a score of 5.45, up from 5.31 in March 2026 and a deteriorating trend compared to the December 2025 report.

In the March 2026 National Tracking Poll, the corruption perception scores for the Police Service were 6.43 out of 10, while those of the Immigration Service were 5.86 out of 10.

Comparing the March and June 2026 indices, the Police Service's corruption perception score rose marginally by 0.31%, while the Immigration Service recorded a 2.9% decline, indicating a modest improvement in public perception.

Last on the scale, which ranked as the least corrupt institutions, were Ministers and Government Officials with a score of 4.54, followed by the Presidency at 4.84 and the Military at 4.90.

The Judiciary scored 5.41, the Ghana Revenue Authority 5.35, and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assembly officials scored 5.24.

Asked whether corruption in Ghana has improved, 54% of respondents said it has, down slightly from 56% in March. However, 21% said it has worsened, up from 18% in March, indicating that some Ghanaians have lost hope in the anti-corruption fight.

When asked which institution is best placed to fight corruption, 36% said both the Attorney General and the Office of the Special Prosecutor could do so equally. Among those with a clear preference, 24% backed the AG over 16% who chose the OSP.

Thirteen per cent said neither institution could effectively fight corruption.

The poll sampled 8,784 voters across all 16 regions between May 30 and June 12, 2026, with a confidence level of 99% and a margin of error of ±2.5%.