Global watchdog Transparency International released a survey of 114,000 people in 107 countries that shed light on some unexpected figures concerning global corruption.
The world's biggest, most expansive analysis on public opinion of government crimes reported that political parties are seen as the most corrupt of all institutions, followed closely by police officials, judges, parliament and public officers.
Least corrupt institution out there? Religious ones.
According to the organization, the annual probe into worldwide wrongdoing shows a globe skeptical of political integrity, palpably concerned with the ability these institutions have to bring criminals to justice, the Guardian reported.
"It is the actors that are supposed to be running countries and upholding the rule of law that are seen as the most corrupt, judged to be abusing their positions of power and acting in their own interests rather than for citizens they are there to represent and serve," the global corruption barometer stated.
For the United States, the barometer reported that only three percent of Americans said the level of corruption over the past two years has decreased significantly.
58 percent of Americans thought that the U.S. media was influenced in some way by these institutions, along with 61 percent of residents who believed that the nation's legislature was affected by corruption.
15 percent of people who were surveyed also admitted that they, or someone in their household, paid a bribe to a judiciary in the last year.
Bribery rates were highest in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Iraq, Liberia, Pakistan and Sierra Leone, where land services cost between 39 percent to 75 percent markup-all paid to the regional bosses.
Some of those surveyed said they'd like to see political parties and governmental candidates move their funds with more transparency by publicizing where they get their money and who pays them, according to the Guardian.
The study also revealed that most people worldwide see corruption as a pressing issue in their nations. On a scale of one to five, one for "corruption is not a problem at all" and five for "corruption is a very serious problem," the average score was 4.1
Red flags on corruption were highest in Liberia and Mongolia-both countries topped out at 4.8.
Denmark, Finland, Rwanda, Sudan and Switzerland all scored below three.
