On 23 January, Transparency International published their Corruption Perception Index for the year 2019. Armenia was ranked 77th, Azerbaijan 126th and Georgia 44th in this year’s index.

The Corruption Perceptions Index ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, according to experts and business people. The Index is calculated using 13 different data sources from 12 different institutions that capture perceptions of corruption within the past two years. Armenia’s overall score was 44, Azerbaijan’s 30, while Georgia’s was 56 out of 100. Armenia and Azerbaijan recorded an improvement in their corruption perception scores in comparison to the year 2018, while Georgia recorded a decline.

The report stated that the region of Eastern Europe and Central Asia (where the three countries had been classified in) was the second-lowest performing region on the CPI, with an average score of 35. Across the region, countries experience limited separation of powers, abuse of state resources for electoral purposes, opaque political party financing and conflicts of interest. Only three countries scored above the global average: Georgia (56), Belarus (45) and Montenegro (45), while at the bottom of the region were Turkmenistan (19), Uzbekistan (25) and Tajikistan (25).

Armenia received a special mention in this year's report, with a recorded 7-point improvement in comparison to last year. “Following the revolution in 2018 and the formation of a new parliament, the country has demonstrated promising developments in advancing anti-corruption policy reforms. Despite these improvements, conflicts of interests and non- transparent and unaccountable public operations remain impediments to ending corruption in the country;” read the summary on Armenia. 

Russia was ranked 137th (score 28), Turkey 91st (39) and Iran 146th (26) in this year's report. The top countries were New Zealand and Denmark, with scores of 87 each, followed by Finland (86), Singapore (85), Sweden (85) and Switzerland (85). The bottom countries were Somalia, South Sudan and Syria with scores of 9, 12 and 13, respectively.

Transparency International e.V. (TI) is an international non-governmental organization which is based in Berlin, Germany, and was founded in 1993. Its non-profit purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil societal anti-corruption measures and to prevent criminal activities arising from corruption. Transparency International has the legal status of a German registered voluntary association and serves as an umbrella organization. TI is a member of UNESCO Consultative Status, United Nations Global Compact and shares the goals of peace, justice, strong institutions and partnerships of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG).