Armenia’s corruption score slips amid concerns over reform stagnation

By Gevorg Tosunyan

Armenia’s score in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) fell by one point in 2025, highlighting what anti-corruption experts described on Tuesday as a worrying stagnation in reforms rather than a clear reversal.

Armenia scored 46 out of 100 in the 2025 index, down from 47 the previous year, Transparency International said in its annual report. The index measures perceived levels of public-sector corruption on a scale where 0 is highly corrupt, and 100 is very clean.

Speaking at a presentation of the findings in Yerevan, organized by Transparency International Armenia on Tuesday, Varuzhan Hoktanian, an expert at the organization’s Anti-Corruption Center, said the one-point drop was less significant than the broader lack of progress.

“The index has essentially remained the same,” Hoktanian said. “This change can be considered a statistical margin of error rather than a clear trend. The stagnation is more alarming than the one-point decline.”

Under Armenia’s 2023–2026 anti-corruption strategy, the government had set a target CPI score of 55 by the end of the period, up from 35 in 2018. Hoktanian noted that even during the post-2018 reform surge, the pace of improvement was insufficient to meet that goal.

Transparency International’s global report also flagged Armenia among countries that have adopted anti-corruption strategies and legislation but continue to struggle with implementation. “Laws and strategies alone are not enough if they are not enforced,” said Sona Ayvazyan, executive director of Transparency International Armenia, at the event.

According to the CPI methodology, Armenia’s 2025 score is based on six international sources, including assessments by Freedom House, the World Economic Forum and the Varieties of Democracy project. Five of those sources remained unchanged from the previous year, while one showed a decline, contributing to the overall drop .

Business perceptions remain mixed. Louiza Ayvazyan, head of the Armenian office of the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), said digitization had reduced petty corruption in daily interactions, but companies still reported corruption risks in larger transactions, such as licensing processes.

Journalists and civil society representatives at the discussion also raised concerns about shrinking access to public information. Investigative journalist Grisha Balasanyan said state institutions were increasingly withholding data that should be publicly available, including information on officials’ bonuses and public spending.

In the global ranking of 182 countries, Armenia shared 65th to 69th place, performing above the global average score of 42 but below most European Union member states. Among Armenia’s neighbors, only Georgia scored higher, while Azerbaijan, Turkey and Iran ranked significantly lower. 

Transparency International warned in its global report that a decline in political leadership and restrictions on civic space were undermining anti-corruption efforts worldwide, including in countries that had previously shown reform momentum.

The CPI 2025 report was released globally on Monday and presented on Tuesday at a public discussion in Yerevan.