Corruption in Austria

On Transparency International's 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index, Austria scored 69 on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"). When Transparency International began using its current scoring method in 2012, Austria's score was also 69 for the first two years, climbed steadily to scores of 75-77 through 2015-2020, and since then has returned to 69. When ranked by score in 2025, Austria ranked 21st among the 182 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector. For comparison with regional scores, the best score among Western European and European Union countries was 89, the average score was 64 and the worst score was 40. For comparison with worldwide scores, the best score was 89 (ranked 1), the average score was 42, and the worst score was 9 (ranked 181, in a two-way tie).

In most cases, corrupt practices were related to conflicts of interest, abuse of office, money laundering and influence peddling. The corruption scandals have put into doubt the ethical standards of the political elite. This doubt is reflected in the findings of Eurobarometer 2012, where two-thirds of respondents perceive national politicians to be corrupt and also the most corrupt institution in Austria.

Extent

According to several sources, corruption is not considered a problem for doing business in Austria. According to Investment Climate Report 2013 by the US Department of State 2013, corruption is not considered as a serious problem impeding business in Austria.

A study over the years 2013 to 2019 found that Austria had the highest rate of corruption in healthcare of all EU countries, with one in nine Austrian patients being asked to pay bribes.