Below when I compared the Nordic countries and Italy on a host of variables, I noted in the comments that it was rather amusing that 99% of the people in Bangladesh asserted that bribery was never justifiable, while only 69% of Swedes did. More specifically, the
World Values Survey simply asked if bribery was ever justifiable, and there 10 options, with 0 = never justifiable and 10 = always justifiable. So 99% of the Bangladeshis chose 0, while only 69% of Swedes did. Plotting the
2008 Corruptions Perceptions Index scores from Transparency International against the proportion who chose 0, bribery is never justifiable, resulted in this:
Here's the raw data:
| Bribery Never Justifiable | CPI |
| Sweden | 68.5 | 9.3 |
| Singapore | 76.6 | 9.2 |
| Denmark | 92.9 | 9.2 |
| Finland | 79.7 | 9 |
| Netherlands | 72.6 | 8.9 |
| Iceland | 87.1 | 8.9 |
| Canada | 80.3 | 8.7 |
| Luxembourg | 70.8 | 8.3 |
| Austria | 72.3 | 8.1 |
| Germany | 64.6 | 7.9 |
| Great Britain | 67.4 | 7.7 |
| USA | 80 | 7.3 |
| Japan | 83 | 7.3 |
| Belgium | 67.7 | 7.3 |
| Chile | 70.9 | 6.9 |
| France | 67.1 | 6.9 |
| Slovenia | 73.5 | 6.7 |
| Estonia | 66.9 | 6.6 |
| Spain | 71.9 | 6.5 |
| Portugal | 73.7 | 6.1 |
| Israel | 86.1 | 6 |
| Malta | 94.2 | 5.8 |
| Puerto Rico | 89.8 | 5.8 |
| Korea | 80.2 | 5.6 |
| Czech Republic | 51.4 | 5.2 |
| Jordan | 96.4 | 5.1 |
| Hungary | 53.3 | 5.1 |
| Slovakia | 39.4 | 5 |
| Latvia | 74.4 | 5 |
| South Africa | 61.1 | 4.9 |
| Lithuania | 66.7 | 4.8 |
| Italy | 79.3 | 4.8 |
| Greece | 64.4 | 4.7 |
| Poland | 76.8 | 4.6 |
| Turkey | 93.7 | 4.6 |
| Croatia | 79.1 | 4.4 |
| Romania | 80.2 | 3.8 |
| Bulgaria | 77.6 | 3.6 |
| Peru | 72.7 | 3.6 |
| Mexico | 72.5 | 3.6 |
| China | 83.4 | 3.6 |
| Macedonia | 86.7 | 3.6 |
| Saudi Arabia | 77 | 3.5 |
| Morocco | 97.7 | 3.5 |
| Serbia | 85.4 | 3.4 |
| Albania | 53 | 3.4 |
| India | 85 | 3.4 |
| Algeria | 88.6 | 3.2 |
| Bosnia | 85.5 | 3.2 |
| Tanzania | 92.1 | 3 |
| Argentina | 92 | 2.9 |
| Nigeria | 63.3 | 2.9 |
| Moldova | 49.2 | 2.9 |
| Egypt | 94 | 2.8 |
| Vietnam | 93.5 | 2.7 |
| Uganda | 72.6 | 2.6 |
| Indonesia | 82.5 | 2.6 |
| Pakistan | 91.9 | 2.5 |
| Ukraine | 64.1 | 2.5 |
| Iran | 93.3 | 2.3 |
| Philippines | 39.5 | 2.3 |
| Russia | 70.3 | 2.1 |
| Bangladesh | 99 | 2.1 |
| Belarus | 39.3 | 2 |
| Venezuela | 75.1 | 1.9 |
| Kyrgyzstan | 73.4 | 1.8 |
| Zimbabwe | 91.9 | 1.8 |
| Iraq | 84.6 | 1.3 |
Eastern Europeans and Filipinos are at least honest about their "pragmatism."
Labels: culture, data, World Values Survey
