The IMF assessed the connection between corruption and the consequences of natural disasters

The expansion of corrupt practices leads to an increase in the number of human victims of natural disasters. Experts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) came to this conclusion in their report “Corruption Kills. Global Evidence from Disasters.” According to observations, bribery is becoming the main reason for non-compliance with safety requirements during infrastructure construction, worsens the work of emergency services, and makes medical care unavailable.

Based on data from 135 countries from the 1980s to the 2020s. The IMF establishes that an increase in corruption by 1 percentage point (pp) on average leads to an increase in the number of disaster victims by 2.1 pp per year. The level of corruption is assessed using the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG, one of the main sources of data on geopolitical risks).