Together with Kuwait, Montenegro, Namibia and Senegal, Armenia ranks 65th out of 182 countries and territories evaluated in the Berlin-based watchdog’s 2025 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released on Tuesday. It occupied 63rd place in the previous CPI released a year ago.
The South Caucasus state’s CPI “score,” measured on a 100-point scale, likewise fell from 47 to 46 over the past year. The Armenian government had pledged to have it gradually raised to 55 in its three-year strategy of combatting corruption approved in 2019.
A Transparency International report gave no reason for the downgrade. It only stressed the need for “strengthening independence and effectiveness of the judiciary and prosecution, alongside sustained enforcement of adopted reforms.” Its two previous surveys also found no improvement in Armenia.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has repeatedly claimed to have eliminated “systemic corruption” in the country since coming to power in 2018. However, members of his entourage are increasingly accused by Armenian media of using their positions to enrich themselves, their families or cronies.
There is also growing resentment against massive bonuses paid to senior government officials, including Pashinian. The latter claimed last month that the extra money makes them less prone to corruption. But Varuzhan Hoktanian, a veteran activist affiliated with Transparency International partner organization in Armenia, denounced the practice as “political corruption.”
In 2023, Pashinian urged senior Armenian officials to sue media outlets “falsely” accusing them of illicit enrichment. Shortly afterwards, hackers hijacked the YouTube channel of the Yerevan newspaper Aravot just as it was about to publish a video report detailing expensive property acquisitions by several senior government officials and pro-government parliamentarians.