Center for the Study of Democracy and Governance published the Barometer of Security and public perception towards justice and corruption.

Over 40 percent of respondents claimed that corruption has remained the same in the last 12 months, while over 25 percent of them stated that the situation worsened and that there is now more corruption than before. 

According to the survey, more than 26 percent claimed that there was a slight improvement in the government's anti-corruption efforts this year, while only 7 percent saw a significant improvement. 

Citizens claim that employment in public institutions is neither fair nor based on merit, while nepotism is considered the most used way of employment in the administration. 

Half of the respondents (50.35%) affirmed that employment in security institutions is based on political connections and 40.03% think this about employment in public administration. 

Employment through bribery and corruption is described by 25 percent of respondents for security institutions and another 17.53% affirm this for public administration. 

If they witnessed an act of corruption, the majority of respondents (43.69%) claimed that they would not report it, because they think that it would not change the situation and the institutions would not react, while 36.71% of respondents claimed that they would report the incident to the competent authorities. 

Another 18 percent said they would not report corruption because of fear of retaliation, dismissal, discrimination or arrest. 

Citizens asserted that the institutions they trust the most to report corruption are the media, the police and SPAK, and they trust the Ministry of Justice, the Police Oversight Agency and NGOs. 

The executive director of the Center for the Study of Democracy and Governance, Arjan Dyrmishi, says that the survey revealed a general social apathy and a drop in trust in all institutions, because they feel that behind this mistrust lies corruption, incompetence and inefficiency. 

"Once again this year, corruption is seen by the citizens as the biggest threat, almost the same as organized crime. Corruption is an instrument of organized crime and both develop simultaneously. Where there is high crime, there is a growing pressure to increase corruption, because both operate with dirty money. Criminality provides illegal benefits, and develops the corruption of the administration, to clean the money collected from dark activities", says Dyrmishi. 

The armed forces remain the most trusted security institution in Albania, while the customs administration is seen as the least trusted institution. 

Citizens affirm a decrease in trust in all security institutions, which are listed, compared to a year ago, but the biggest change was noted in the state police. 

The prison police and the Police Oversight Agency also have low levels of trust from the public. 

Citizens' confidence in the Assembly and the government has also decreased, compared to a year ago. 

"The Parliament of Albania is considered the least trusted institution by the respondents, where only 1 in 10 people (10.91%) answered that they trust or completely trust this institution, while 2 in 3 people (66.11%) answered that there is little or no faith in this institution. 18.49% of the respondents trust or completely trust the government, while 60.59% have little or no trust in this institution", the survey concludes. 

Citizens' trust in courts and prosecutors' offices has also decreased compared to a year ago. 

The media and NGOs do not enjoy a high level of trust. 21.42% of respondents trust or completely trust the media and 40.44% trust it somewhat. On the other hand, only 12.81% trust or completely trust NGOs in the country. 

Public trust in political parties is minimal: only 1 percent of respondents said they fully trust political parties, and only 5 percent said they trust them. 

In the perception of public safety for 2022, the majority of respondents said they feel safe in their homes, neighborhoods and cities, but not in the state, where 36 percent say they feel safe. 

Respondents ranked brain drain (83.48%), poor health services (53.61%) and air pollution (51.48%) as the biggest threats to their communities and feel less threatened by poor infrastructure, lack of public lighting. 

Half of the respondents think that the police and the judiciary have capacities to a certain extent to deal with the various threats to national security. 

Over 65 percent of respondents think that the police have contributed only partially to improving community safety over the past 12 months. 

As the main threats to personal security, the respondents listed drug use, illegal possession of weapons, murders, road accidents, house robberies. 

As internal threats to national security, the vast majority of respondents highlighted the economic crisis, organized crime, the flight of educated people, unemployment, corruption, while below they list violent extremism and fake news. 

All indicators of these internal threats have significantly worsened for 2022 compared to 2021. 

In the survey, the biggest external threats to national security are listed as price increases, cyber attacks, the energy crisis, the war in Ukraine, and climate change. 

While the escalation of regional issues (45.15%) is considered the least important external threat to the country's national security.