December 13 (SeeNews) - About one in five Romanians thinks that corruption levels have dropped over the past four years, slightly above the Southeastern Europe (SEE) average of 18%, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Tuesday.
However, the percentage of Romanians considering that corruption levels are lower is slightly below the transition region average of 23%, the EBRD said in the 2016 edition of its Life in Transition Survey, which covers 34 countries, mainly in transition, in central and eastern Europe, Asia, as well as Turkey.
The survey also covered Cyprus and Greece for the first time. For the sake of comparison with more prosperous western neighbours, the survey was also carried out in Germany and Italy.
Over the past ten years, corruption scandals involving politicians and the fight of prosecutors against graft have dominated Romania's political landscape. Only in 2015, Romania's national anti-corruption authority DNA pressed charges against 1,250 people, sending to trial five government ministers, 16 MPs and five senators. Furthermore, DNA seized 431 million euro ($473 million) under precautionary measures, DNA data showed.
According to the EBRD survey, some 23% of Romanians believe that the economic situation in the country was better in 2016 than it had been four years ago, when the previous EBRD survey on the matter had been conducted. Also, 20% of Romanians think that the political situation in the country improved in the last four years. These percentages are higher than the averages for the SEE region, but below the corresponding figures for the transition region as a whole, the EBRD said.
About 35% of Romanians believe that their household was better off in 2016 compared with four years prior to the survey, and 36% are satisfied
with their personal financial situation. These percentages are above both the respective SEE and transition region averages.
Life satisfaction has increased substantially across all age and income groups since the last survey, from only 18% in 2010 to 45% in 2016, EBRD data showed. On average, Romanians are now happier than the average respondent in SEE and the transition region.
The percentage of Romanian respondents who think that children born now will have a better life than the current generation has also increased significantly since the last survey: 21% of respondents were optimistic in 2010, as opposed to 38% in 2016. The level of optimism in Romania is now comparable to that in SEE as a whole but it is still below the corresponding average for the transition region.