The country’s public service institutions continue to maintain a high level of integrity, with bribery remaining extremely rare. However, a growing concern is no longer cash changing hands. It is whether personal connections and favouritism are influencing decisions. Those are among the key findings of the National Integrity Assessment 2025 launched today.
According to the assessment, Bhutan has improved its National Integrity Score from 8.01 in 2022 to 8.16 in 2025, placing the country in the ‘Good’ category.
Most people continue to experience public services as transparent and largely free from corruption. Citizens rated public sector integrity higher than public officials themselves.
The report recorded an external integrity score of 8.57, compared with 7.98 for internal integrity. Overall, public sector integrity scored 8.41, placing it in the ‘Very Good’ category.
One of the assessment’s findings is that direct corruption remains exceptionally rare. The experienced corruption index received an ‘Outstanding’ rating. Very few respondents reported paying bribes or other illegal payments to access public services.
However, corruption concerns have shifted. People are now more worried about favouritism, nepotism and the use of personal connections than traditional bribery.
Although only a small number of respondents reported giving gifts or informal payments for services, nearly 40 per cent believe corruption has increased over the past five years. The assessment says this perception is driven more by concerns over fairness than by actual corruption.
Within government agencies, work systems remain strong. However, the assessment identifies weaknesses in organisational culture. These include limited protection for whistleblowers, inconsistent disciplinary action and concerns over ethical leadership.
Ethical Leadership is rated at 7.62, with concerns over fairness in human resource decisions, hierarchical pressure and an increase in unreasonable instructions.
The assessment also points to gaps in parliamentary integrity. While direct corruption involving parliamentarians remains very low, respondents raised concerns about transparency, oversight and favouritism.
It also found that parliamentarians generally rated their own performance more positively than the public did.
The Anti-Corruption Commission says the country must now focus on strengthening accountability rather than fighting bribery alone. It recommends stronger whistleblower protection, better grievance systems, stricter disciplinary action, greater transparency and wider use of digital services to reduce opportunities for favouritism.
Tashi Dekar
Edited by Sangay Chezom
