The CSO, through Ireland's Institute for SDGs (IIS), supports reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals.
SDG 16.4.1 Total Value of Inward and Outward Illicit Financial Flows
SDG 16.4.2 Proportion of Seized, Found or Surrendered Arms Whose Illicit Origin or Context has been Traced or Established by a Competent Authority in Line with International Instruments
SDG 16.5.1 Proportion of Persons who had at Least One Contact with a Public Official and who Paid a Bribe to a Public Official, or Were Asked for a Bribe by Those Public Officials
SDG 16.5.2 Proportion of Businesses that had at Least One Contact with a Public Official and that Paid a Bribe to a Public Official, or Were Asked for a Bribe by Those Public Officials
SDG 16.4.1 Total value of inward and outward illicit financial flows (in current United States dollars) - no data is available at national level.
The UN SDG metadata repository provides the following definition in the SDG 16.4.1 metadata document.
The target for this indicator is Target 16.4 which is:
"By 2030, significantly reduce illicit financial and arms flows, strengthen the recovery and return of stolen assets and combat all forms of organised crime".
The indicator measures the total value of inward and outward illicit financial flows (IFFs) in current United States dollars. IFFs are defined as “financial flows that are illicit in origin, transfer or use, that reflect an exchange of value and that cross country borders”.
The metadata document states that:
Linkages with related indicators:
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) are in the process of helping member states to strengthen their national capacity to measure the indicator. More detailed data collection plans will be made based on the outcomes of current consultations, pilot testing and capacity-strengthening projects.
SDG 16.4.2 Proportion of seized, found or surrendered arms whose illicit origin or context has been traced or established by a competent authority in line with international instruments - no data is available at national level.
The UN SDG metadata repository provides the following definition in the SDG 16.4.2 metadata document.
The target for this indicator is Target 16.4 which is:
"By 2030, significantly reduce illicit financial and arms flows, strengthen the recovery and return of stolen assets and combat all forms of organised crime".
Proportion of seized, found or surrendered arms whose illicit origin or context has been traced or established by a competent authority in line with international instruments.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) provide data at an international level in their 2021 Monitoring SDG 16 Key figures and trends report.
Globally, only one third of firearms collected between 2016 and 2019 could be successfully traced to the point of diversion into the illicit market.
SDG 16.5.1 Proportion of persons who had at least one contact with a public official and who paid a bribe to a public official, or were asked for a bribe by those public officials, during the previous 12 months - no data is available at national level.
The UN SDG Indicators Database provides the following information on SDG 16.5.1 metadata.
The target for this indicator is Target 16.5 which is:
"Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms ".
This indicator is defined as the percentage of persons who paid at least one bribe (gave a public official money, a gift or counter favour) to a public official, or were asked for a bribe by these public officials, in the last 12 months, as a percentage of persons who had at least one contact with a public official in the same period.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) provide data at an international level in their 2021 Monitoring SDG 16 Key figures and trends report.
Beyond the regional disparities, the level of socio-economic development of a country is associated with the level of bribery. Data available in more than 120 countries show that people living in low-income countries are those most exposed to bribery. The average prevalence rate of bribery in low-income countries is 37.6%, while high-income countries have an average prevalence rate of 7.2%.
SDG 16.5.2 Proportion of businesses that had at least one contact with a public official and that paid a bribe to a public official, or were asked for a bribe by those public officials during the previous 12 months is published in the World Bank Enterprise Survey.
The UN SDG Indicators Database provides the following information on SDG 16.5.2 metadata.
The target for this indicator is Target 16.5 which is:
"Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms".
The percent of firms experiencing at least one bribe payment request across 6 public transactions dealing with utilities access, permits, licenses, and taxes. In every Enterprise Survey, there are standard questions which ask the survey respondent if they were expected to give a gift or informal payment during a transaction with a public official. There are six separate transactions which make up this indicator, they include an application for an electrical connection, an application for a water connection, an application for a construction-related permit, an application for an import license, an application for an operating license, and during an inspection/meeting with tax officials. In all of these transactions, if the respondent indicates ‘yes’ they had the transaction (e.g. they applied for an import license), then there is a follow-up question which asks if the respondent was expected to provide a gift or an informal payment during this transaction (an application or meeting). The response options include “yes”, “no”, “don’t know”, and “refuse”. Note that refusals are accepted and recorded but for the purposes of indicator construction, refusals are considered as a ‘yes’. The indicator 16.5.2 is measuring whether the respondent indicated ‘yes’ to a bribe payment for any of these six transactions.
Enterprise Surveys are firm-level surveys conducted in World Bank client countries. The survey focuses on various aspects of the business environment as well as firm’s outcome measures such as annual sales, productivity, etc. The surveys are conducted via face-to-face interviews with the top manager or business owner. For each country, the survey is conducted approximately every 4-5 years.
Information about the survey, including limitations (coverage, size of enterprise, and survey scope), and country data are provided on the World Bank Enterprise Surveys webpage.
Detailed data for Ireland can be downloaded from the World Bank Group Ireland 2020 Country Profile publication.
The World Bank Enterprise Survey data for Ireland shows that bribery incidences were only identified among medium size enterprises (20-99 employees), where 1.1% of medium size enterprises had bribery incidences, in 2020. In the service sector 0.5% of enterprises experienced bribery incidences in 2020, compared to none in the manufacturing sector. See Table 6.1.
Data for 2020 shows 1.5% of firms were expected to give gifts in meetings with tax officials. Also, 0.5% of enterprises identified corruption as a major constraint. See Table 6.2 and Table 6.3.
