Which Local Governments Were the Most Transparent in Serbia in 2023?

On October 13, 2023, Transparency Serbia and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will present the results of the 2023 Local Transparency Index (LTI). The Index has been measuring the transparency of all 145 local governments and 25 city municipalities in Serbia each year since 2015 and tracks trends over time. Transparency in local governance reinforces trust and confidence in public institutions working to serve the best interests of their citizens and is one of the key principles of good governance.

Local governments and city municipalities are ranked based on indicators such as free access to information, budget, public procurement, public participation, work of governance bodies, and others. The mayors of the three best ranked municipalities will participate in the event and provide remarks.

This year’s Local Transparency Index was supported through the USAID Improving Public Procurement project. The project works on improving the planning, tendering, and implementation of public procurement; and helps ensure that legal enforcement and oversight of the public procurement process is more effective. By helping public institutions to increasingly act in the public interest, the activity will increase the resiliency of democratic actors. More information about the project can be found here.

WHO:              

Nemanja Nenadić, Program Director of Transparency Serbia;

Brooke Isham, USAID Serbia Mission Director;

Milan Marinović, Commissioner for Access to Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection;

Zlatko Minić, Research Coordinator of Transparency Serbia;

Mayors of the three most transparent local self-governments.

WHEN:            

Friday, October 13, 2023, 11 a.m. Journalists covering the event should arrive at 10.45.

WHERE:          

Media Center, Terazije 3, Belgrade (first floor)

CONTACT:      

For more information about this event, please contact Zlatko Minić, Research Coordinator, Transparency Serbia at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 063 252 949.

For more information about USAID, please contact Mirjana Vukša Zavišić at 065 316 4530 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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Some additional information and methodological notes

The Local Transparency Index - LTI 2023 is a survey, assessment and ranking of 145 local self-government units and 25 city-municipalities in Serbia conducted by Transparency Serbia. This is the seventh time TS has conducted this research. According to the TS methodology, the transparency index is calculated as the sum of points obtained based on the answers to the indicator questions. It ranges from 0 to 100. This year, as well as in 2022, 95 indicators (indicator questions) were used. A negative answer brings 0 points, and a positive answer 1 or 2 points. More precisely, questions related to the five most important indicators ("basic indicators") bring 2 points for a positive answer and 0 for a negative one. The remaining 90 questions carry 1 or 0 points.

The answers to the questions were collected by reviewing the official internet presentations of cities, municipalities and urban municipalities. The second method we used was a direct inspection by visiting all service centers and local administration premises. The third group of sources were the responses of the local self-government units themselves to requests for access to information of public importance. The fourth group of data was obtained from other competent authorities (Commissioner for Information of Public Importance, Anti-Corruption Agency).

All 145 cities and municipalities were ranked together, while 25 city-municipalities were evaluated but not ranked, considering that they do not have the same competences as municipalities.

The final result represents the transparency status at the moment when the verification is completed. The true transparency of local self-government, i.e. the situation on LSG’s websites and their premises, can therefore differ from the status at the time of the creation or presentation of the research.

It is important to emphasize that poor results in some categories do not necessarily mean that corruption in those areas is widespread. Similarly, good results do not guarantee that there is no corruption. Transparency is only a mechanism that facilitates the detection or prevention of corruption; the ultimate success of these mechanisms depends on many other factors. Similarly, a low LTI score does not necessarily mean that a particular municipality is more corrupt than another with a higher LTI, and vice versa. The fact is that a low LTI should "wake up the public" and the local administration and government, while a high LTI means that corrupt behavior will be harder to hide, that is, easier to detect.

In last year's ranking list - LTI 2022, the three first-placed local governments were Novi Pazar, Sombor and Sokobanja.

Since 2001 USAID has invested more than $914 million to stimulate economic growth, strengthen the justice system, and promote good governance in Serbia.

For more information, visit http:/usaid.gov/serbia