Approximately 85% of citizens in Bangladesh feel safe walking alone in their neighborhood after dusk, according to a preliminary report from the Citizen Perception Survey (CPS) conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
However, the survey also reveals that women feel less safe compared to men.
The findings were presented yesterday, Thursday, June 19, at an event where CPS Project Director Rashed-e-Mastahab highlighted the survey's data.
The survey, conducted in February, involved 84,807 men and women aged 18 and above from 45,888 households across all 64 districts of the country.
It assessed progress on six targets under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions), focusing on citizens' perceptions and experiences regarding safety, good governance, quality of public services, corruption, access to justice, and discrimination.
Regarding citizen safety, the survey shows that 84.81% of citizens feel safe walking alone in their neighborhood after dusk. This rate is similar in both rural and urban areas.
While 80% of women feel safe walking alone after dark, a higher percentage of men, 89.53%, feel secure in the same situation.
The report further indicates that 92.54% of citizens feel safe in their own homes after dusk. Here, too, there's a slight difference, with 93% of men feeling safe at home compared to 92% of women.
In terms of corruption, the survey data reveals that 63% of citizens seeking services from the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) office in the last year experienced bribery or corruption.
Additionally, 62% faced corruption at law enforcement agencies, 57% at passport offices, 55% at land registration offices, 54% at courts, and 51% at land records or settlement offices.
Other instances of bribery for services include 35% at customs and VAT offices, 33% at Union Parishad, Municipality, and Upazila Nirbahi Officer's offices, 26% at district and upazila election offices, 14% at tax offices, 9% at agriculture offices, and 3% at education offices.