In the first half of 2025, 8.9% of adults who conducted at least one transaction with a government office were victims of corruption.
December 9th was declared by the UN as International Anti-Corruption Day. This year, INEGI (the Mexican National Institute of Statistics and Geography) is commemorating it with the report “Statistics on the Occasion of International Anti-Corruption Day (December 9th),” released yesterday.
In the first half of 2025, 8.9% of adults who conducted at least one transaction with a government office were victims of corruption. The most serious finding is in public safety: 45.2% of those who had contact with police officers reported an act of corruption. These results come from the 2023 National Survey on Government Quality and Impact (ENCIG), which indicates an 8.9% rate of administrative corruption and a much higher incidence in public safety.
In the private sector, the same ENCIG survey shows that in 2023, 169,769 companies were victims of corruption, representing 3.5% of the total. The highest prevalence is found in medium-sized companies, at 8.4%. For every micro-enterprise affected, there are 2.5 medium-sized companies in the same situation.
The 2023 National Census of the Federal Government (CNGF) indicates that 40,145 investigations were initiated that year for alleged administrative offenses, 24.8 per thousand public servants, but only 2,341 resulted in sanctions, 14.4 per 10,000.
At the state level, the 2025 National Census of State Governments (CNGE) reports an 8.9% increase in administrative complaints between 2023 and 2024. Mexico State and Campeche lead the list of sanctions, while Baja California Sur and Colima report zero sanctioned public servants in 2023.
Added to this is the dark figure of corruption. The 2023 National Survey on Government Integrity (ENCIG) estimates that 95.2% of acts of corruption go unreported; only 4.8% of victims go to the authorities. The 2025 National Survey on Victimization and Public Safety Perception (ENVIPE) estimates that only 9.6% of crimes committed in 2024 were reported.
The 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index, published by Transparency International, gives Mexico a score of 26 out of 100, ranking it 140th out of 180 countries—the worst result among OECD countries and second to last among the G20. Meanwhile, a November 2025 poll by El Financiero shows a 70% approval rating for President Claudia Sheinbaum, but around 80% disapproval regarding her handling of corruption. Presidential popularity coexists with a very negative evaluation of her performance in combating corruption.
The data set paints a picture of a system plagued by corruption: high incidence in public security, costs for medium-sized businesses, cases that rarely result in sanctions, a rate of unreported corruption exceeding 90%, a decline in international indicators, and a president who is generally well-regarded but fails in this area. Correcting this requires, among many others, three viable measures: prohibiting the collection of fines in cash and the use of body cameras by police officers; linking the budget and career advancement of oversight bodies to effective sanctions and not to open cases; and reducing discretion in procedures through digitization, one-stop shops, and protected complaints that help lower the number of unreported crimes.
Source: imagenzac
