Corruption in Colombia

Corruption in Colombia is a pervasive problem at all levels of government, as well as in the military and police forces. A general culture and awareness of this corruption permeates society as a whole.

Various factors have contributed to political corruption in Colombia including: drug trafficking, guerrilla and paramilitary conflict, weak surveillance and regulation from institutions, intimidation and harassment of whistle-blowers, and a widespread apathy from society to address unethical behavior. The government is continuously taking steps to measure and reduce levels of corruption at all levels through anti-corruption policies. Initiatives have also been headed by the private sector in the interest of facilitating and encouraging business activities.

A Global Corruption Barometer survey from 2010 found that the institutions seen as most corrupt were the political parties and the parliament, followed by the police and public officials, the judiciary and the military.

Transparency International's 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index, based on experts' and businesspeople's perceptions of corruption in the public sector, gave Colombia a score of 39 on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"). When ranked by score, Colombia ranked 91st among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector. For comparison with worldwide scores, the best score was 90 (ranked 1), the average score was 43, and the worst score was 12 (ranked 180). For comparison with regional scores, the highest score among the countries of the Americas was 74, the average score was 43 and the lowest score was 14.