On January 31, the 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) was released by corruption watchdog Transparency International. Corruption remains rampant in Eastern Europe and Central Asia as many countries reach historic lows.

Across the region, the 2022 CPI has underlined how high-level corruption is closely linked to political instability, weakened institutions, and - in the most extreme cases - violent conflict. Governments undermine democratic processes, crack down on civic space and restrict media freedoms in a vicious cycle of corruption and authoritarianism. 

As reported by the Armenian Chapter of Transparency International, Armenia's 2022 score has significantly decreased compared to the previous year and is equal to 46. It is 3 points less than the score of the last two years (49 points). The standard measurement error of Armenia's 2022 CPI is equal to 2.47 (in 2021, it was equal to 3.76). 

On the 2021 CPI, Armenia scored 49/100, earning a rank of 58 out of 180 countries. The score of 49 considerably improved over its score of 35 in 2018. Such an increase indicated that Armenia was perceived to have made impressive progress in tackling public sector corruption since 2018. However, Armenia's score on the CPI has stayed the same since 2020. 

Transparency International’s 2022 Eastern Europe and Central Asia regional analysis highlights: “After years of improvement, this CPI brings worrying signs as Armenia drops three points. While not yet statistically significant, this downturn reflects the breakdown in maintaining checks and balances, ensuring integrity in law enforcement, securing judicial independence, and protecting civic space.”

*The CPI ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption on a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).