Sources: Transparencia Mexicana, Financial Times, CIA World Factbook 2001

According to Transparencia Mexicana, Mexican households participated in 214 millions acts of corruption. Families paid $2.3 billion in bribes in 2001 to receive public services — from getting phone service to obtaining exception from military service — a sum equivalent to about one percent of Mexico’s gross domestic product. The average bribe in Mexico amounted to an estimated $10. A Mexican family, the organization reports, pays an average of $109.50 in bribes each year — not an insignificant number in a country where the average annual income is $9,100.