The prominent British research organization Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has assessed the state of democracy in the world. According to the Democracy Index 2022 annual report compiled by the analytical group, Armenia was recognized as a "hybrid regime" and ranked 82nd in the list of 167 countries and territories.
In the region, Armenia is the first in terms of democracy. Neighboring Georgia ranks 90th, Turkey ranks 103rd. Azerbaijan ranks 134th among authoritarian countries, 0.05 index points behind Zimbabwe. Russia is 146th. Iran is 154th.
The research is carried out on the basis of several indicators: ‘electoral process and pluralism’, ‘functioning of government’, ‘political participation’, ‘political culture’, ‘civil liberties’, ‘Change compared to previous year’.
Armenia received 7.92 points out of a possible 10 for ‘electoral process and pluralism’, ‘functioning of government’ was rated 5.71 points, ‘political participation’ - 6.11, ‘political culture’ - 3.13, ‘civil liberties’ - 5.29.
According to Economist Intelligence Unit reports, Armenia has made significant progress in the democracy index in recent years. Since 2018, Armenia has improved its position by 21 digits. In 2022, Armenia rose 7 places in the rating scale.
2016 - 120
2017- 111
2018 - 103
2019 - 86
2020 - 89
2021 - 89
2022 - 82
Armenia’s National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan referred to the improving Armenia's position in the Democracy Index 2022, expressing satisfaction that our country is the first in the region.
“The Government is committed to continuing democratic reforms to improve the quality of life of its citizens.”
According to the 2022 report, 45.3% of the world lives in "more or less democratic countries", while more than 50% live under authoritarian rule. Only 8 percent live in countries recognized as "full democracies". The top five most free and democratic countries are Norway, New Zealand, Iceland, Sweden and Finland. The bottom five authoritarian regimes are Syria, Central African Republic, North Korea, Myanmar and Afghanistan. According to the report, in 2022, democracy in the world has generally declined.
