LONDON -- More young Chinese want to be civil servants with strengthened faith in the public sector due to the anti-corruption drive, the London-based Economist reported recently.

Almost 1 million people took China's national civil-service exams in 2020 to secure a job in the public sector, much more than the previous year, said the report released on Saturday.

Still more took tests to become provincial and local officials, it added.

The report cited Zhu Ling, who graduated last year from a highly competitive master's programme at one of China's best universities, as saying that trust on the Chinese officials has been on the rise.

Zhu, who joined an elite government ministry, "credits an anti-corruption drive that began in 2012 with changing their views of officialdom," said the report.