BRUSSELS, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Three-quarters of Europeans think government corruption is widespread in their country, led by Greece with near-universal agreement on the topic, a study found.
Ninety-nine percent of Greeks said corruption is rampant in Greece, which has undergone turmoil since a debt crisis and unpopular-but-necessary austerity measures lawmakers put in place to obtain a bailout from other eurozone nations.
Seventy-six percent of Europeans believe corruption is a significant problem, an annual European Commission report on corruption indicates.
Though 3-in-4 Europeans said they believe corruption is a problem, only about 1-in-4 -- 26 percent -- said their lives had been directly impacted by government misdeeds. That rate varied widely depending on the respondent's home country.
The study's authors said the assessments were done on a qualitative basis, rather than quantitative, so no margin of error exists for the report's findings.
